Archives for 2011

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Who likes Motorola’s Xyboard?

December 19, 2011 by Greg Quick 2 Comments

BlueSprig lands $10 million investment round
Mobile security software startup BlueSprig has secured $10 million Series A funding and has debuted a beta version of its forthcoming app for Apple iOS and Android devices. The funding came from IDG-Accel’s China Growth Fund.

The beta app, AirCover, is designed to protect users from a wide range of issues including malware, viruses and even theft. Aversion can be downloaded at its web site-www.bluesprig.com. Among the features the software offers are cloud backup, and system security. The company has also released full versions of its system utility tools, JetBoost and JetClean.

The company has offices in both San Francisco and Chengdu, China and is headed by CEO Jason Johnson who has a history of successfully launching companies and then selling them to larger concerns such as Global IP Solutions which Google purchased and InterQuest Communications which was purchased by Darwin Networks.

Nielsen study tracks smartphones rise
In “State of the Media: The Mobile Media Report”, one of its latest studies market research firm Nielsen has tracked the rapid rise of smartphones in the United States and highlights the growing impact they have on the consumer market.

Among the interesting facts is that the number of smartphone subscribers using the mobile Internet has grown 45% since last year and that 87% of app downloaders have used deal of the day websites such as Groupon.

In a related report it is noted the impact that teens are having on the mobile data market, tripling mobile data consumption and showing that teens between the ages of 13-17 use an average of 320 MB of data a month, a 256% increase over last year.

Saudi Prince invests $300m in Twitter
Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has continued his history of major investments in high tech companies this week with a $300 million stake in social micro blog company Twitter, Forbes has reported.

The investment was lead by Kingdom Holdings Co. an investment firm that he owns 95% of and which has invested in companies such as Apple, GM and News Corp. According Forbes the Prince is the 26th wealthiest billionaires’ in the world with a estimated fortune of $19.6bn.An interesting note is that he does not use Twitter.

Did the iPad kill the Netbook?
That is the point of a recent piece by Business Insider that says that Dell’s recent decision to kill off its Inspirion Mini line of netbooks is a sign that the netbook market segment is dead, and said that it sees the iPad as having killed the platform.

Dell has also recently killed its Streak tablet business but has indicated that it will most likely rejoin that space at some future date, for the time being it wants you to buy a notebook.

A look at Motorola’s latest tablet
Motorola is replacing its Xoom tablet, one of the original entrants into the current tablet market with a second generation product called the Droid Xyboard. There is two distinct models are the 10.1 a fast powerful model for the Enterprise and power users and a scaled down version called the 8.2.

Reviewers are pretty positive about the devices, with the one failing possibly being price. You can go to eWeek or Cnet for a look at the 10.1 review and to Engadget for an 8.2 review.

This and that
Amazon reports that it is selling 1 million Kindles a week.
Rumor has it that Apple is planning to release a 7.85-inch version of the iPad for release later this year?

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Dell, iPad, Nielsen Ratings, Startup Tagged With: Android, Apple, Apps, Motorola Mobility

Friday Grab Bag: Sugar Bowl not so Sweet?

December 16, 2011 by Greg Quick 1 Comment

Virginia Tech in for a loss again on bowl game ticket sales?
Virginia Tech is on the way to selling 57% of its allotment of tickets to the Sugar Bowl, where the Hokies will face the Michigan Wolverines on Jan 3. 2012. The team reports that it expects to sell roughly 10,000 of its 17,500 tickets.

The team blames the Tuesday night game time as well as the readily availability to tickets in the secondary market. No comment on the fact that the cheapest ticket is $125. The Big Lead reported that the school is asking fans to buy proxy tickets to donate to various charities and the military.

So why is this news? Well last year the team also went to a bowl game, and also did not sell out its allocation of tickets. However the kindly NCAA does not simply allow you to send back the unneeded excess tickets. That is because many of the bowl games that we are about to be inundated with not actually sell out and how will the director justify a half million salary if the bowl does not turn a profit.

Top Linux predictions for 2012.
I love the end of the year predictions. I do not track them to see if they are accurate on an annual basis but do like to look back on occasion to see when the hover car was supposed to be here. Still when made by informed people they often do give insight into trends, be they sports, social or otherwise.

The Linux Insider has posted its Top 5 Linux predictions for the upcoming year and if they are accurate, or even near misses, it looks as if a lot of activity will be moving from the desktop and into mobile, cloud and consumer platforms.

I think this spells good news for users, Linux users and others, since competition should help continue a flow of new and innovative products and technologies. One interesting prediction is that all of the mobile and cloud growth will harm its efforts n the desktop- as well as help it. Read the reviews to see what you believe.

ESPN to broadcast many NCAA championships in $500m deal
The NCAA has expanded its multi-decade deal with ESPN that calls for the sports network to broadcast a huge range of the NCAA’s championships through the 2023-24 school year. The deal will pay ESPN $500m per year and will see 600 hours of broadcasting.

The deal expands on the current relationship between the two as ESPN already broadcasts 17 championships. Added to the deal will be broadcasts of women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s fencing, Division I women’s lacrosse, Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track, and women’s bowling.

ESPN will also expand its broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the Division I FCS football, women’s volleyball, softball and baseball tournaments and will get international rights to the men’s basketball tournament.

Did its history with Windows hurt Microsoft’s mobile phone effort?
Windows baggage was a deterent that harmed the market’s perception of Microsoft’s Windows Phone, or at least that is the point of view of a piece by Jason Hiner in Tech Republic. He believes that it has harmed users perception of what is a quality device and so prevented Microsoft from being a dominate player in the space.

This comes at a time of mea culpa at Microsoft, admitting very poor sales, disappointment and the traditional rotating of top management. All that was missing was the “Airing of Grievances” to make the event complete.

He claims that people believe that the difficulty and frustration of using the Windows operating system such as malware, viruses and other issues will be present in the phones. Decide for yourself but if you started out using MS-DOS on old, very, very, slow PCs you know what a breath of fresh air Windows was. After they got the bugs out of course.

This and that
Was anybody amazed at how much grief was directed at Albert Pujols for leaving St. Louis for a much better contract elsewhere? Since when did sports writers spur higher offers?

Is it just my conspiracy theory of the week or did the NBA intentionally foul up the Chris Paul trades simply to intensify interest in the NBA, something that appeared to me to still be lagging due to the strike?

I wonder if there will be any fallout from the drug bust of (ex) Chicago Bear Sam Hurd? That is a lot of pot and coke to be selling on a weekly basis while still playing football. He must have had an impressive network in Chicago.

Startup investment analysis firm SigFig claims that investors with iPhones are 20% more likely than average to own Apple stock while owners of Android phones are 25% less likely than average to own Google stock.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, BCS, ESPN, iPhone, NBA, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com Tagged With: ESPN, Linux, NCAA, Sugar Bowl, Virginia Tech, Windows 7

Xfinity Develops TV Sports Remote for iPhone

December 15, 2011 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Have you ever been channel surfing and wished that you could simplify the process and just have a set of buttons that take you to live sports or scoreboard updates? Well if you are a subscriber to Xfinity, and use Apple’s iOS mobile devices there is an application that will meet your needs.

Called the Xfinity TV Sports Remote, it is a free, downloadable app available from Apple’s iTunes store that can turn your iPhone or iPad into a remote control for your TV that enables you to just move between sporting events.

It currently is designed to work with a large number of major sports and includes NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, NCAA Football, and NCAA men’s basketball and the company said that it is working on expanding the app to support additional broadcast sports.

It serves as a remote control and not as a technology that converts the iOS device into a viewing platform but rather makes it a focused remote control that you can program to meet your sports viewing needs.

It is easy to use but does require that you know your Comcast ID or e-mail address, which I did not initially and had to look it up which was not as easy as I would have thought. Once logged-in it checks what cable box you have, what channels you have access to and then takes you to the initial set-up page.

Enables Fans to select Favorites

This page has lists of sports events being broadcast today in your area. You need to temper your enjoyment by realizing that you may not subscribe to all of those that are displayed. It shows the channels that they will be broadcast on, and that should be the clue.

You can select a league by simply tapping on its icon and that will give you a list of games, so for the NFL it will list the Thursday, Sunday and Monday games, and then on the right had side show the channel for the ones that will be broadcast in your area. Unless the NFL uses it’s flex programming of course. In each of the leagues sections, just visiting will give you current scores for teams that are playing.

It is also very simple to add favorites although one step stumped me initially. You just click the small + by a team and it’s a favorite the first time you go to the favorites section. The second time you need to go to edit to add or subtract a team, otherwise it just tells you the status of any games your favorites are playing on that day.

The favorites section will show you the time and channel that your favorite teams are playing on the current day, if they are playing that is and if it is broadcast The only limit to favorites is the number of teams available, you can favor them all if you wanted to.

Other features include the ability to select which TV you are watching and the ability to record sports on DVRs. A caution on this feature, it will preempt any other recording setting so you might delete someone else in the houses setting to record a non sports event, hard as that might be to believe.

The program will show the sports packages available in your area but you need to directly call to sign up for one- no on-line option available.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, Comcast, iPad, iPhone, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, NBA, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NFL, NHL, Tablets, Xfinity Tagged With: Apps, iPad, iPhone

AT&T Beefing Up Cell Service in Superdome for BCS Championship

December 15, 2011 by Paul Kapustka 9 Comments

An example of a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) antenna atop a light pole. Credit: Sidecut Reports.

In order to make sure that BCS doesn’t also stand for “Bad Cellular Service,” AT&T is beefing up wireless coverage inside the New Orleans Superdome in advance of the Jan. 9, 2012 national-title matchup between LSU and Alabama.

According to Larry Lovell, a spokesperson for the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, AT&T is currently installing what is known as a DAS, or Distributed Antenna System, inside the cavernous arena. A DAS is basically a bunch of small antennas that connect to mobile phones the same way as big cellular towers do. Historically used inside office buildings and convention centers, DAS installs are now becoming a way for cellular providers to overcome the bandwidth challenges created by the onslaught of tens of thousands of fans arriving at stadiums with their smartphones ready to connect. The big numbers of customers wanting wireless access typically swamps the few cellular towers near stadiums, making connectivity a problem during game time.

By placing a lot of small antennas inside the Superdome AT&T should be able to provide much better service to the expected packed house for the BCS title game. Using a DAS install to beef up stadium throughput is a tactic used by AT&T before, most notably at Cowboys Stadium for last year’s Super Bowl and most recently at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. Lovell said the AT&T DAS install at the Superdome is slated to be finished by Dec. 23 and activated by Dec. 26, in time for a test run at the Sugar Bowl game on Jan. 3, 2012, followed by the BCS Championship the following Monday.

Though the Superdome already has an extensive Wi-Fi network, it is used for internal communications and services (like ticketing) and for media use, not for the general public. Lovell said the Superdome and AT&T are exploring the possibility of installing a public Wi-Fi network at a later date, along the lines of other AT&T projects at places like AT&T Park or Chase Field in Phoenix.

Lovell said the Superdome and AT&T are currently negotiating with other cellular carriers to give their customers the ability to roam on AT&T’s DAS network. The Superdome install would be just the latest in a long string of aggressive DAS projects from AT&T, including a DAS network currently being installed in and around the Silicon Valley city of Palo Alto. If all goes well AT&T customers in particular should be able to send all those texts, LOLs and photos from the game without a hitch.

Filed Under: AT&T, BCS, iPhone, Wi-Fi Tagged With: AT&T

Sprint Partners With NBA, Brings ESPN Games to Mobile for Free

December 14, 2011 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

It’s like the prayers we offered yesterday were answered — today we are hearing that Sprint is partnering with the NBA to build an exclusive mobile app and will show the league’s ESPN broadcast games for free, provided that you have a phone and a plan with the nation’s No. 3 wireless carrier.

Though it’s not out yet the Sprint NBA Mobile app is promised by this year’s season-starting games on Christmas Day, and it won’t cost anything for Sprint subscribers who have an unlimited data plan. The only hitch: It will be available only to Android-based phones, so those who rushed to buy an iPhone from Sprint are apparently left on the mobile-viewer bench.

But still. According to the Sprint press release, here is what is coming in the new app:

The app will include access to in-game and post-game video highlights, news, scores, stats, live home and away radio broadcasts, in addition to providing direct access to live ESPN NBA Games via Sprint TV’s ESPN Channel.

Sprint also says that you will be able to buy a subscription to the NBA League Pass service we mentioned yesterday for a 20 percent discount through the Sprint App — still too expensive for us but if you are a hoops junkie and are at a decision point for a mobile phone, these deals make it pretty much a no-brainer to go with Sprint.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, iPhone, NBA, Samsung, Sprint Tagged With: Android, Apps, ESPN, NBA, Sprint, Streaming Sports

Dear NBA: Your Mobile Games Should Be Free

December 13, 2011 by Paul Kapustka 1 Comment

After not giving a single damn about fans during its owner-induced lockout, the NBA is continuing its slap-you-in-the-face ways by charging LeBron-type fees — $169 — for its NBA League Pass service, which lets you watch out-of-market games online or on a mobile device.

For hard-core fans who don’t want to miss that important Oklahoma City-Toronto matchup, maybe it’s a small price to pay. But for the casual fan — or the fan completely put off by not having any NBA to watch while the billionaires split up their revenue pie — having to shell out serious dough to watch the numerous boring regular-season games (especially in this hurry-up season of shame) seems like insult to injury. Why not instead embrace the moment and make mobile access free, maybe at least one game a week?

There’s no subscriber numbers available to judge how popular the League Pass program is, but it’s easy to guess that it pales in comparison to other sports services, like MLB.com or the NFL’s Sunday Ticket. In those leagues the regular season games mean something, and are for the most part entertaining. The NBA, not so much. I challenge anyone, even Bill Simmons, to recall any first quarter of any regular season NBA game, ever. So why not just make it free, and use it as a way to win back old fans or find new ones?

The number of folks who care enough to shell out $169 has got to be inconsequential to the overall league revenue pie. So why keep dinging fans for the service? Instead make it free for mobile use, and you will endear yourself to the growing young demographic for whom a smartphone may be the only way they access the Internet. Just about every study out there shows that online viewing doesn’t harm regular-TV audience numbers or season ticket purchases, so there’s no real reason to try to recoup millions in production costs when you are raking in billions as a league. Why not try at least one game a week or two a weekend? Or a “Free February” promotion after the Super Bowl, when we’re starved for live sports?

If it’s free then maybe those fans who felt abused by the lockout can justify spending some of their precious hours on earth watching Jimmer Freddete and the Sacramento Kings. But to spend $169 for the right? That doesn’t feel right.

UPDATE: The league updated its League Pass page with official prices (which weren’t available when the post was originally written). The $169 is the one-time fee for TV, broadband and mobile; there is a lower-cost package for $109 where you get to choose 5 teams and it’s broadband only. Still — too much for me.

Filed Under: Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NBA Tagged With: Live sports via mobile, NBA