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PlayUp pushes to China

November 22, 2011 by

PlayUp plans to launch in China in January, according to a China Daily report.

PlayUp is rapidly establishing itself as a global leader in sports social media applications for mobile devices. Launched in the United States in October, PlayUp has already downloaded 75,000 applications worldwide, according to an earlier MobileSportsReport article. By pushing into China, PlayUp establishes a presence in each of the three top markets for mobile sports. It is already active in India and Brazil.

The PlayUp application mixes live sports scores with sports social media. Its interface allows people to pick games to comment on, and easily filter conversations.

According to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), there are over 952 million mobile phone users in the country, including over 102 million on 3G mobile networks.

PlayUp will be the first application of its kind available in China when it debuts in January, according to China Daily.

Filed Under: PlayUp Tagged With: , ,

ESPN ‘Morally Criminal’ in Bernie Fine Coverage, Whitlock says

November 22, 2011 by

Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock has published commentary saying ESPN broke its story of sexual abuse allegations against Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine “morally criminal,”  and says the network decided to report the story only because of the Penn State football sex abuse scandal.

In the column, titled “A Fine mess ESPN has created,” Whitlock says ESPN reporter Mark Schwarz got only the legal minimum information to go with a story that Syracuse’s Fine allegedly molested two step brothers and former Syracuse ball boys.

Whitlock says ESPN was spurred on by the success of Deadspin.com, which has built its reputation digging up juicy information about sports figures, including ESPN sportscasters and former Packers and Vikings quarterback Bret Favre. According to the Worth of Web, Deadspin has built a business worth $7.2 million by adding edge to sports news on the Internet.

Whitlock also quotes Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio saying his outlet would not have gone with the Fine story based on the information ESPN presented.

“And for no other reason than the fact that it seemed very presumptive and piggybacked off the Sandusky case, which irretrievably alters the public perception of the story. Davis’s story could wait another month or two,” Daulerio told Whitlock.

Whitlock’s commentary illustrates the dizzying pace sports news editors have to operate in the era of sports on mobile devices, and shows the blurring of lines between Internet upstarts and established sports media giants. Whether Tim Tebow, Penn State or Fine, the demand to be out in front has never been greater.

Filed Under: Fox Sports, Jason Whitlock Tagged With: , , ,

Sling Media moves to Facebook with new App

November 22, 2011 by

The company continues to reach out to new platforms

Sling Media, a provider of streaming media, has once again expanded its reach by developing a Facebook app that has the potential to reach millions of additional potential customers as well as make its make its technology more easily used.

The program is called SlingPlayer for Facebook and the obvious target is its installed customer base. To use the app you need both a Facebook account and more importantly a Slingbox. It provides you with an on screen remote control that enables you to watch and record programs remotely from your home system.

SlingPlayer for Facebook does not require additional hardware, passwords or software. A user that already has an account with the company can now use existing passwords etc to access their DVR or live television. It supports a wide variety of browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer and works on both PCs and Macs. However only customers with its Pro-HD or Solo devices will be able to use the app.

The app will also enable the company to possibly get into businesses and other sites via a potential backdoor by using Facebook. A company may close many different sites to keep employees focused on work but Facebook tends to be exempt.

I expect that it will provide a secondary boost to the company as customers will likely show friends at work the technology and say on a Thursday night where you have to work late it can show a football game that you might otherwise miss.

Sling Media has been aggressive in moving its technology onto additional platforms. It is also available on Android phones and tablets, iPads, iPod Touch, iPhones Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerrys. In addition it has a Windows app and a Mac OS X app.

The company needs to stay aggressive due to the current competition from players such as Apple TV, Roku, and Boxee as well as a number of similar approaches including Xbox 360 and streaming sites like Netflix that seek to erode Sling Media’s original core space.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Sling Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report Monday TechWatch: Poor Android Apps Revenue?

November 21, 2011 by

The Kindle-It’s Cheap!
Love it or hate it, the Kindle Fire is making its mark, and a primary reason is that it is less than half the price of rival tablets such as Apple’s iPad. A compilation of reviews at Network World is less than kind to the device for all uses aside from reading books.

I keep wondering why people compare it to an iPad when it looks to be trying to take a slice of the market that only somewhat overlaps. My Dad wants a Kindle, I want an iPad or a Samsung Galaxy and we want them for different purposes.

Nook Tablet vs Kindle Fire- a Side by Side Look
Decided you want a small form factor tablet but cannot decide which one you want or how they compare to each other. Engadget kindly did the work for you by taking a hard look at the features of these two recently released devices so that you can make an informed holiday purchase. Among the areas they look at are performance, form factor, software and display.


Android Apps poor Revenue Stream?
A report in Business Insider claims that despite the huge platform advantage that the Android platform is enjoying over rival Apple iOS and the rest of the pack, it’s payback to developers lags at just 7% of what iOS developers receive. The report said that Android revenue for developers is dwarfed by the revenue for the iOS. According to a study from Piper Jaffray that breaks down to $330 million for Android developers compared to $4.9 billion for the iOS community. Could they have possibly dropped a zero or two?

More Patent Goodness
Slashdot notes that Apple’s iOS 5 has a Reminders feature that can be location based and a patent pending called Computer Systems and Methods for Collecting Associating and/or Retrieving Data (Snappy title that). Amazon was just granted a patent on its Location Based Reminders while Google has a patent on Geocoding Personal Information that includes location based reminders. Microsoft, not wanting to be left on the sidelines has a pending patent called Geographic Reminders.
There are also some older patents involved from Microsoft. I see a lot of legal fun and the horde of lawyers that they all employ gleefully rubbing their hands together and buying themselves new helicopter pads for Christmas.

IT Execs don’t seem to mind new Mobile Technology
CIO Magazine found that CIOs are rapidly starting to embrace employees using their own mobile technology such as smartphones and tablets for work. According to its 2011 CIO Magazine Consumerization of IT Survey 49% of its respondents said that allowing their employees to do work on personal devices from home or the office. An issue that has the potential to slow this is the ability or inability of most IT departments to support every hardware and software platform.

Latest Apple Rumors
Thicker iPads, how will I be able to handle the 0.7 mm difference? All metal iPhones that are larger with a 4-inch screen, will the world be able to survive? A revamped MacBook Pro in 2012- that will kill my holiday buying plans! Anyway if you are looking for the latest rumor about Apple’s next generation plans head on over to Cnet which has kindly rounded them all up in a nice tidy bundle.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apps, iPad, iPhone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Monday Morning Tweets

November 21, 2011 by

Welcome to a new Monday morning feature: Random tweets from our Twitterstream. First topic of the day is who should the Chicago Bears get to replace injured QB Jay Cutler? Like everyone else we thought immediately of that former grocery bag boy Kurt Warner, but Warner says it ain’t happening.

Chicago Trib columnist Steve Rosenbloom says stop the Kurt Warner tweets:

Enough with the Warner and Bulger nonsense. Martz doesn’t run the Martz offense anymore because the Bears can’t block it.

November 21, 2011 11:36 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@steverosenbloom

steve rosenbloom

Kurt Warner says stop the Kurt Warner-to-the-Bears tweets:

I am bummed 4 @ ! Been there 2 many times & he was playing great fball! Yes, I know & luv offense but NO I am NOT unretiring! #fb

November 21, 2011 10:45 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@kurt13warner

Kurt Warner

ESPN’s Adam Schefter says the Bears aren’t the only ones with QB issues:

Gary Kubiak told reporters Texans worked out Jeff Garcia, Trent Edwards, Brodie Croyle, Kellen Clemens. But also said might not sign any.

November 21, 2011 12:25 pm via WhoSayReplyRetweetFavorite
@AdamSchefter

Adam Schefter

The Niners’ owner is all BFF with the guys who run Twitter:

Thanks to @ and @ for joining me & the @ this year at Candlestick. Figured it’s time I join Twitter to connect with our fans.

November 21, 2011 9:06 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@JedYork

Jed York

And just in case you missed Lee Corso going blue:

I’ll assume everyone in the free world has seen this: Saturday, Lee Corso on Gameday – “Aw, fuck it” http://t.co/maikAjKZ

November 21, 2011 9:03 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@TheBigLead

Jason McIntyre

Filed Under: ESPN, NFL, Twitter Tagged With: , ,

Early Verdict: NFL Mobile Rocks

November 20, 2011 by

We finally upgraded our Verizon-based handset here at MSR headquarters this weekend, and just in time to catch some of the Sunday night game via the NFL Mobile app. For the record we have the Samsung Stratosphere, not the latest or greatest Android phone but one with a slide-out keyboard which is a necessity for me.

With the MSR grade-school contingent in the household busy watching the Aristocats on DVD, we dialed in the Stratosphere with the sound muted down and checked out NFL Mobile, and was supremely impressed. Not only did it show the Sunday night Eagles-Giants game in pretty good definition it didn’t stutter or pixelate — and we were able to use the home Wi-Fi so that the data didn’t count against our cellular plan.

After trying out several other options earlier this year, like the ESPN GameCast text play by play and the NFL.com highlights/text option it is clear that if you are an NFL fan and are at a decision point on your cellular provider it’s hard to pick anyone else but Verizon. Earlier today we watched the NFL RedZone on the phone and it was again impressive — and only about 30 seconds behind the live RedZone broadcast on cable. So it’s a perfect couch companion, letting you watch your game of choice on the big tube while keeping RedZone open on the phone to let you know if and when you need to flip channels.

We will reserve a final judgement until we have to use NFL Mobile on the cellular network and then see how much data live watching chews through. But for now mark us as a happy NFL fan who has a great new tool for mobile viewing, that being Verizon Wireless’s NFL Mobile app.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NFL, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , , , ,
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