Archives for February 2012

How Should Sports Sites Make Money? A Great Post and a Great Line

February 18, 2012 by Paul Kapustka 1 Comment

Since Mobile Sports Report ran a story and picture of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition this week (after all, it is a big story that the issue is available online), the whole discussion about how to drive traffic to sports sites and how online news sites make money off advertising got moved to a new level with this post from Outkick the Coverage. Read it if you are in the sports marketing biz. I think the ideas contained are radical, but deserve consideration.

I was pointed toward the article from another post over at The Big Lead that was talking about how the Boston Courant makes money because it doesn’t have a website. FYI, a guy named Dave Price, who I don’t know personally but went to school at Colorado the same time I did, does the same thing at a local daily near here in Palo Alto — no online stories to protect print ads.

You can debate if that is a realistic long-term strategy, but — I loved the line at the end of the Big Lead post by Ty Duffy, so I’ll quote it below:

This story highlights a basic fact: no one has figured out how to monetize the Internet effectively. For typed words to stand alone, media must cross two fundamental barriers. First, we need a better metric to sell to advertisers than straight pageviews, before we all burn out and/or introduce Softcore Saturdays. Second, traditional media must find some way to make a non-invasive paid subscription model work.

“Softcore Saturdays,” I love it. Of course I should also mention that on the same page as Duffy’s post there is a link to the MissCollegeFootball.com poll. So maybe softcore Saturday is already almost here.

Filed Under: About MSR, Sports Illustrated, The Big Lead Tagged With: Mobile Sports Report

Major Apps Designed to Data Harvest Apple iOS Users

February 17, 2012 by Greg Quick 4 Comments

Is there a mole in your iPhone?

Are iPhone apps stealing data off your smartphone?
In a general sense it looks like the answer is yes, even if you as an individual are unaffected. A series of studies has shown that it looks like the market as a whole has not been immune to this problem but it is running rampart and is lead by some of the leading app developers.

While to some it might seem that harvesting data such as contacts is a minor issue consider that may use their smartphones for both work and personal use and there could be a good deal of proprietary information on the phone.

While the current list of offenders comes from the world of corporate app developers the next generation destined to exploit this issue will no doubt be hackers, something that could pose a major issue to all concerned.

A study by VentureBeat comes after a developer called Path was caught in the act harvesting names, numbers and e-mail addresses and storing that information on its servers. Venture Beat found that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that it is very likely that an iPhone user has one or more of the apps involved.

VentureBeat used a program called mitmproxy that is a traffic monitoring utility to observe data traffic and found that a host of applications were uploading personal data from the iPhones, in some cases unencrypted.

A list of some of the players is a who’s who of apps, much over shadowing the much smaller and less popular Path. Included in this list is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Foodspotting, Yelp, and Gowalla. They do not all do exactly the same thing but it is an interesting read over at the VentureBeat site.

At the same time it appears that Google has developed work around for safeguards in Apple’s Safari browser that enable Google to place tracking cookies that circumvent Apple’s default privacy settings. The workaround affected not just iPhones but Mac computers, iPads, and iPod Touch.

Google has said that it has disabled the code that enabled the actions and said that it was unintentional. However a complaint has been filed against the company with the FTC.

Apps for the iOS platform from Apple are in violation of Apple’s guidelines, which prohibits the app from sending information about a user without their permission. The company said that it is working to tighten this up in the future, according to Enterprise Mobility Today.

However it is not just iOS apps that are an issue here. The Federal Trade Commission has just issued a warning that smartphone apps can invade a child’s privacy and advocates are calling for greater safeguards. I wonder if this market segment, largely left to its own devices will start to see the advent of more, and increasingly tougher regulations due to the actions of a few developers.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, FTC, Google, iPad, iPhone, Smartphone, Social Media, Tablets, The New York Times, Top News, Twitter Tagged With: Apple, Apps, Google, Twitter

Friday Grab Bag: Digitized Swimsuit Issue-Where do I sign up?

February 17, 2012 by Greg Quick 4 Comments

Ford to show at Mobile World Congress
At the Mobile World Congress there will no doubt be an array of interesting products and technologies introduced, and there will be at list one show first- Ford plans to launch a car at the show. The B-MAX to be exact.

Ford has one of the keynote speeches at the show and it has been revealed that it will take the wraps off of the car that has what it calls Easy Access Door System, but it claims that as yet unrevealed technology in the car is what it will be touting at the show.

ESPN to increase soccer coverage?
After ESPN lost in its bid to broadcast the upcoming 2018 and 2022 World Cups it seemed that all of the progress the network had made in its coverage of soccer would all go down the drain. However the Big Lead reports that in an interview with the World Wide Leader major changes are in the works to improve its coverage.

It reported that after this summer’s European Championships there will be a major effort to massively overhaul ESPN’s presence online. It currently has two separate sites that cover the sport so simply consolidating them would be a positive step forwards.

BlackBerry takes a hit as Government agency moves to rivals
Research in Motion, reeling from a bad year just got more unpleasant news as the U.S. Government’s General Service Administration, its primary procurement agency, has started issuing smartphones that run both the Android and Apple iOS operating systems.

Until recently RIM’s BlackBerry had been the only option available from the GSA. However it is not all dire news as the BlackBerry is still the most widely used device among the RSA’s 17,000 employees and currently the rivals’ only account for approximately 5% in a trial program that is just now starting. However once the camel’s nose is in the tent watch out for the rest of the beast.

Apple seeking blood from a stone?
Apple has asked a bankruptcy court for permission to sue Kodak for infringement. That is just the tip of the iceberg according to Cnet, which reports that Apple is also seeking to file a patent infringement claim with the International Trade Commission and plans to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Manhattan.

Apple is already a two time loser in regards to taking Kodak in front of the ITC, which has ruled that Kodak did not infringe on Apple’s patents. Kodak has returned fire and last month filed a suit against Apple saying it violated some of Kodak’s patents.

Apple wins round in Germany vs Motorola
Apple has won a major round in its ongoing patent disputes with Motorola Mobility when the Munich I Regional Court ruled in favor in regards to patent # EP1964022. Not familiar with that one, are you? Well it has to do with unlocking a device using a gesture on an unlock image.

Apple will now have the opportunity to defend the side and lock patent as Motorola has already appealed the decision. The court looked at three different implementations of the technology and Apple won on two, losing on the third, which is used by Xoom tablets.

Apple is also asserting the same patent against Samsung sop expect to hear more about this issue going forward.

Looking for a more digital Sports Illustrated? It is here.
One of the coming of age items for high school students was squirreling away the annual Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue before the parental units could confiscate it. Well now you can view it, and all of the magazines content, in a growing array of digital formats.

The latest is available for iPads, with horizontal and vertical views available as well as for the iPhone for the Apple fans and then it’s also available for Android smartphone and tablet users. All for the low, low price of $6.99.

However there is also a range of video options as well including much that is exclusive to the tablet market. Then a user could simply also head over to SI.com for additional video, as well as YouTube and Facebook.

Google fixes Wallet Security Hole
Your digital pocket can no longer be picked, according to Google, which has issued a fix for the security flaw that was reported in its Google Wallet. While there are still threats to the security, the simply method that required almost no hacking skill has been resolved.

Along with putting in a fix for the security gap Google has made some additional enhancements to the Wallet, head over to Pocketnow for a run down.

Camping stove boils water and charges smartphones
Looking forward to the backpacking season but worried that your smartphone’s battery will not handle three days in the great outdoors? Well BioLite has just the tool for you, a stove that burns wood for cooking and can also generate electricity.

The CampStove does both by using the thermal energy created when a fire is kindled in it to run a thermoelectric module that is built into the side of the stove. The module runs a fan that blows air onto the fire to improve combustion but also has excess energy available.

That energy can be used to charge small electronics devices such as a mobile phone, a GPS or lights. Of course if you backpack with back to nature types the stove might not help you stave off attack from your friends for using your phone.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, ESPN, Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Motorola, Samsung, Smartphone, Soccer, Sports Illustrated, Sports Photography, Tablets, The Big Lead, YouTube Tagged With: Android, Apple, Motorola, Patents, Sports Illustrated

TaylorMade has Twitter-based Contest — Also on Saturday and Sunday

February 16, 2012 by Greg Quick 9 Comments

Editor’s note: TaylorMade extended its contest to Saturday and Sunday, via text not Twitter. Rules are here. Good Luck!

If you are watching the Golf Channel at this moment you could easily enter the TaylorMade Driver Love Contest but you will have to hurry- it runs from Thursday, Feb 16th starting at 12 AM Pacific Time and ends the following day at 11:59:59 PM.

The contest, touted as a ‘first to tweet’ effort, could not be simpler to enter, that is if you have a personal Twitter account and a television. Simply watch the Golf Channel’s broadcast of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament and watch for a “Driver Love” Heart Feature image on the screen during the broadcast.

Then leap to your trusty Twitter account and send a tweet using both the hashtag “#R11SLove” and the Sponsor’s Twitter.com user name (@taylormadegolf). The first eleven entrants on each day that fill this tough first step will win a prize.

There will be one “Driver Lover” heart shown on screen each day and the prize that each winner will receive is one TaylorMade R11S driver. The approximate retail value of each prize is $399. For more info head over to this site.

Filed Under: Golf, Golf Channel, TaylorMade, Twitter Tagged With: Golf, TaylorMade

Google/Motorola deal now awaits Chinese Approval

February 16, 2012 by Greg Quick 1 Comment

While it looks like a certainty that the Google/Motorola $12.5 billion deal is going through after getting approval from the appropriate regulatory bodies in both the United States and Europe there is still one major hurdle to overcome.

The wildcard is China, which is also taking a look at the deal and wants to have its say in the matter, and when the world’s largest market wants a say it will get one. The Anti-Monopoly Bureau, part of the Chinese Commerce Ministry is examining the deal; a move that it says is just a routine procedure in all acquisitions, according to Reuters.

The issues they are examining are pretty much the same as in the US and the EU; the deal gives Google a huge number of patents in the mobile phone space and the company already has a popular phone operating system in Android and the capabilities to build smartphones.

Google said that it submitted filings on the deal last September and that China has until March 20th to approve the deal or move to another stage of investigation. Everyone is seeking to ensure that with this wealth of resources Google does not seek to price out rivals or even close the door to competitors that have invested in its OS, leaving them out in the cold.

That issue was recently raised by Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, who said that there is a possibility that Android will become a close source OS, moving away from its current position. Of course it should be noted that she was also then touting HP’s WebOS as a viable alternative if this should happen.

Chinese officials said that they doubted that their regulatory bodies would find any more issues that their counterparts elsewhere on the globe. However China has had issues with Google in the past and so there could be bad blood between the two.

Filed Under: Android, Google, Motorola, Smartphone Tagged With: Android, China, Google, Motorola

Apple Patents MacBook Air look- Lawsuits to Follow?

February 16, 2012 by Greg Quick 3 Comments

Apple has just been awarded 19 patents in the last week and one of them has the potential to stir up trouble, if the company decides that it can enforce that patent against rival notebook manufacturers.

The patent in question is No. D654,072 and it has to do with the the design of light, thin laptops. While the patent in question does not mention Apple’s MacBook Air specifically it does have a drawing that bears a very close resaemblance, according to Mashable which broke the story.

The question that everybody wants answered is will Apple go after all slim and then, tapered notebooks, will it go after ones that it feels directly copy its design or will it seek to profit by licensing the patent?

Intel and its host of notebook partners will be looking at this very carefully because the next generation ultraslim notebooks from developers, the Ultrabooks, are expected to have a very similar look and Apple could possibly prevent these devices from being sold in the United States.

However to anybody that takes a look at the market there are already some devices that are similar and have been available for some time, including versions of Sony’s VAIO notebook computers. Early adopters of the Ultrabook matra such as Hewlett-Packard with its Envy Spectre offering already have ultrabooks available that do not look like they have imitated Apple’s MacBook Air.

However there are a number of reports that Apple has put pressure on one contract manufacturer, Pegatron, who also builds for Apple, to cease building Austek’s Zenbook, an ultrabook that also has the slim profile.

The move by Apple has already generated a great deal of vitrol on line, with people vowing to never buy another product from the company. It seems to me that they should wait and see what Apple is going to do with the patents before crying wolf.

Apple has shown itself to be litigious in the past, but it also owes shareholders to protect its intellectual property and could face shareholder lawsuits if it does not protect its IP in an appropriate manner. An interesting note on the patent is that it lists the late Steve Jobs as one of the inventors.

Filed Under: Apple, Sony Tagged With: Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Sony

Archives for February 2012

How Should Sports Sites Make Money? A Great Post and a Great Line

Friday Grab Bag: Digitized Swimsuit Issue-Where do I sign up?

TaylorMade has Twitter-based Contest — Also on Saturday and Sunday

Google/Motorola deal now awaits Chinese Approval

Apple Patents MacBook Air look- Lawsuits to Follow?

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