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Daytona 500 Delayed — Could Pressure Next NASCAR Race

February 26, 2012 by

Sunday's 200,000 fans not this dry

Sunday’s heavy rains forced a delay for the Daytona 500 race, the first time in the iconic race’s 54-year history that it has been delayed. Track officials waited over four hours before deciding that was not going to be a window of clear weather that was long enough to allow the track to dry off sufficiently to allow for racing.

The race has been tentatively moved to Monday but weather reports are not promising as the forecast currently calls for rain. It is likely that the track will wait much longer since any additional delays will make it difficult to reach Phoenix in a timely manner for next week’s NASCAR race.

For the office bound-look online for info

For racing fans there is still news to be had online. We listed a number of services that are being provided by the Daytona International Speedway last week but there are other online and social media sources for fans that might be trapped in an office during the race.

With the race being broadcast on Fox there is of course http://www.foxnews.com/sports/nascar/index.htmls web site that focuses specifically on NASCAR. With a lot at stake they will very likely have their finger on the pulse to see if the race does start at noon EST, or what time it is likely to start. ESPN of course also has a strong NASCAR presence at can be viewed at its site as well.

If you are looking to have a bit of input and possibly chat with other fans while at work, you can head over to Speedtv.com and join in the Twitter conversations that are ongoing or follow any one of a number of drivers Twitter feeds as they talk about the race and the rain issue.

Filed Under: Daytona 500, ESPN, Fox Sports, NASCAR Tagged With: ,

The PGA’s Strange Baby Steps Toward Social Media

February 26, 2012 by

Since golf in general has a reputation for being stuck up, it’s perhaps no surprise that when it comes to social media the PGA is still taking baby steps when compared to other sports. I mean — in an era where the NBA has fans selecting the dunk contest winners via text message and Twitter, the PGA has a place where fans can leave messages online… for the PGA to somehow bring them to golfers.

Don’t understand what I am talking about? Look at this page, which I found by following the PGA on Twitter… and see if you think it’s about three years behind the interactivity of the times. As far as I can tell, the PGA thinks that fans may want to “congratulate” Hunter Mahan by leaving a message on some random web page — or as the PGA site says, “Leave a note below and we’ll deliver it to him.”

Umm… OK? As far as I can tell this is about as non-social as social media gets. I mean — why not have the winner do a quick Twitter chat, where he can respond to fans in real time? And they can get recognition for themselves via their Twitter handles, which after all is part of the social media game — to be recognized?

This sort of idea — you put a message here, somewhere safe, and we’ll carry it past the ropes to our winner — pretty much reflects golf’s baby steps toward real fan interaction. The online video for the World Golf match play was a perfect example of that tenor — it was a straight network-broadcast type feed, no place for fan tweets or any outside commentary. You get the feeling sometimes that golf wants to keep its game bottled up as much as it can. But I don’t think that method is going to win in the long run. Golf will need to either open up, or it will become less appealing to a fan base that is rapidly growing accustomed to having closer, more intimate access to its heroes.

Filed Under: PGA, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , ,

Can Twitter Save the NBA Slam Dunk Contest?

February 24, 2012 by

For a long time now, I thought that the NBA’s All-Star Slam Dunk contest was something that just needed to die. Way back in the day, before every single dunk was posted to YouTube and every game was on cable, it was kind of fun to put a spotlight on guys who you hadn’t seen that much of (Dominique Wilkins) and more from the guys you couldn’t get enough of (Michael Jordan).

In its early days it was a lot of fun, with surprise winners like Spud Webb. But then it stagnated, the stars left for a while and in recent years it became a bit of a clown show, with guys jumping over each other, and then last year when Blake Griffin posterized an automobile. I mean, the guy can dunk but I thought the sideshow was stupid.

In perhaps a nod to the event’s tediousness, it is now just one round — three dunks — for four players. And to make it even more trendy, the NBA and sponsor Sprite have turned to Twitter. In addition to voting for the best dunkers via text message and on the NBA.com site, fans will be able to tweet with the hashtag #SpriteSlam and a letter corresponding to one of the four players involved, the Houston Rockets’ Chase Budinger, the Indiana Pacers’ Paul George, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Derrick Williams and the Utah Jazz’s Jeremy Evans. I am guessing the final instructions will be spelled out during the broadcast on TNT, which you will have to watch anyway to see the dunks.

Are you excited? Here is the official word on how it works:

A new format will be implemented for the 2012 competition. The contest will consist of only one round and each competitor will execute three dunks. Fan voting will open after all four players have completed their first dunk. Previously, the Sprite Slam Dunk contest consisted of two rounds, with the first round scored by a panel of judges which determined two finalists.

The competition starts Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, live on TNT. And just in case you can’t get enough of guys dunking over cars, here’s last year’s finals recap.
UPDATE: If you need more Twitter, Chase Budinger will be holding a tweet-chat today:

#SpriteSlam contestant @ is doing a Twitter Q&A at 1pm EST, tweet your questions with #AskChase

February 25, 2012 10:37 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@TwitterSports

Twitter Sports

 

 

Filed Under: NBA, TNT, Twitter Tagged With: ,

Friday Grab Bag: Apple pays $50 million for Chomp

February 24, 2012 by

Apple buys app search engine company
Apple has purchased Chomp, a startup that has developed technology that enables users to search the iOS App Store in unique ways including searching for features that are not listed in any other search category.

The app has a very wide range of features including checking on what apps your Facebook and Twitter friends have reviewed. It also lists a free app of the day and shows which apps are currently trending

Apple paid $50 million for the company but has given no clear direction as to what it intends to do with the technology that it has acquired. The company recently noted that it has already had 25 billion apps downloaded from the store.

Nike takes a second step with Nike +
Mike has made another move into digital sports with a pair of products, the Nike+ Basketball and the Nike+Training, both of which are shoes. The Nike+Basketball is designed to provide digital feedback about a players game including how high a player jumped, how fast they are and how hard they play. The first shows will be the Nike Hyperdunk+.

The second is the Nike+Training will be a line of shows that also feature a training program that has a series of workouts designed to improve performance. The first shows in this lineup will be the Lunar Hyper Workout+ for Women and the Lunar TR 1+ for men.

The shoes use a new sensor technology from the company called Nike+ Pressure Sensor built into each shoe. The sensor collects data and then wirelessly transmits data to their phone. Additionally Nike has started shipping its NikeFuel Band.

Microsoft files antitrust claim against Motorola with the EU
Microsoft has filed a complaint with the antitrust regulators in the European Union claiming that Motorola and Google are seeking to block sales of Microsoft products by seeking unfair terms for licensing their technology.

The complaint is very similar to the one that Apple filed last week and comes at a time when the EU has already said that it is quite willing to look at not only present but past patent licensing efforts by Motorola.

Microsoft said that Motorola is attempting to block sales of Windows PCs, our Xbox game console and other products by refusing patents. I imagine this is a good time to be a patent lawyer.

The Ryan Braun story keeps getting better
Braun, the MLB MVP winner from last season was found to have huge amounts of testosterone in his body according to two tests, and he has not disputed this. The issue was with the chain of custody and that his sample was not handled properly. Of course it also does not mean that he is guilty since he was acquitted by MLB.

The flame wars have been a lot of fun, here is one with a good deal of common sense as well- more so that the author of the piece had. And just for fun here is a second, in case you did not get enough the first time.

Apple wins on a different front
Apple’s dispute with a Chinese company over the name iPad looked to prevent the company from selling the devices in the world’s largest market but a court in Shanghai has ruled in Apple’s favor. Proview Technology had been arguing that Apple infringed on its trademark rights.

The Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court ruled against Proview saying that there was a lack of evidence that iPad sales would be a trademark violation. It said there was no law or regulation that would prohibit Apple from selling iPads and terminated the litigation of the case.

Fun with Amazon
I recently received a survey request from Amazon saying it was part of the company’s ongoing effort to provide better services and support. It was supposed to take between 10-15 minutes. Looking for any excuse not to work I decided to give it a stab.

I only managed to get to about question 6. When I said that I was unlikely to buy an e-reader in the next six months or whatever the question was exactly, it terminated the survey and said that I did not fit the customer profile they were looking for. Now that is good customer service, saving me 9-14 minutes!

Teddy bear gone bad
A truly frightening gift for a baseball fan- or any fan for that matter. But pretty funny if real.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, iPad, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, Motorola, Nike, The Big Lead Tagged With: , , , ,

Government Intervention in On-line Privacy Issue Likely

February 23, 2012 by

Users to have select rights about when and how data is collected

With growing reports of data harvesting from people’s accounts with and without permission coming out in a constant stream, and many major on-line players only paying lip service to the idea of individual privacy it now looks like state and Federal Governments will intervene to differing degrees.

Google will be changing privacy rules March 1.

From California to Federal level efforts are now being made to rein in the app developers and afford a level of privacy, or at least provide upfront information about information sharing policies prior to purchase and installation.

On the Federal level the Obama administration has proposed Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, a seven point proposal that will seek to dramatically increase the privacy of users of the Internet that seeks to protect Americans’ privacy as they use the internet.

The core of the Bill of Rights has seven points:
INDIVIDUAL CONTROL: Consumers have a right to exercise control over what personal data companies collect from them and how they use it.
TRANSPARENCY: Consumers have a right to easily understandable and accessible information about privacy and security practices.
RESPECT FOR CONTEXT: Consumers have a right to expect that companies will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways that are consistent with the context in which consumers provide the data.
SECURITY: Consumers have a right to secure and responsible handling of personal data.
ACCESS AND ACCURACY: Consumers have a right to access and correct personal data in usable formats, in a manner that is appropriate to the sensitivity of the data and the risk of adverse consequences to consumers if the data is inaccurate.
FOCUSED COLLECTION: Consumers have a right to reasonable limits on the personal data that companies collect and retain
ACCOUNTABILITY: Consumers have a right to have personal data handled by companies with appropriate measures in place to assure they adhere to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

While this is only a guideline it is being proposed as a regulation that would be administered by the Federal Trade Commission after details of each of these is worked out. The White House has said that it will be working with industry groups and web app developers and publishers on this issue.

In at least one case a state is simply enforcing privacy standards that are on its books. In California the State Attorney General Kamala Harris has announced a deal with the state’s six largest mobile web app providers.

The companies, Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Research-in-Motion and Amazon, which according to Harris account for 95% of all mobile apps distributed worldwide, must now adhere to the California Online Privacy Protection Act that was passed in 2004.

Under the agreement, the companies will place prominent and easy to understand privacy disclosures before a user downloads an app. The push will cover both app developers as well as the larger players such as Apple that distribute the apps.

A lot of players have a vested interest in this. Google and Facebook are massive data harvesters and in a number of ways they will remain unaffected. However Google’s recent move to change its privacy policies looks like one of the many events that have helped quickly push this to the forefront.

Another issue was the discovery that a number of apps were downloading users’ cell phone contacts and address books without clearly letting the user know that they were losing that information.

Filed Under: Amazon, Apple, Apps, Facebook, FTC, Google, Microsoft, Research in Morion, Sports Social Media Data Tagged With: , , , , ,

Dear Cell Companies: Event Upgrades Aren’t News. They Tell Us Your Network Stinks.

February 23, 2012 by

Portable cellular tower on light truck -- aka a "COLT." Credit: Verizon Wireless

Are you getting as tired of this as we are? Every time there is a big sporting event now, the major wireless carriers in the U.S. are racing each other to put out press releases saying how the companies are rushing extra gear to the event stadium and surrounding area, all to ensure good performance of their customers’ devices. We hear tales of new antennas, new infrastructure equipment and the now-ubiquitous COWs, aka cell trucks on wheels. Is this news?

No. What it means is that the wireless networks stink, and the companies are trying to make a positive out of what is really years of neglect and shortsightedness in network design and deployment. This week’s offender is Verizon Wireless, which wants you to know that among other things it has “installed powerful base station equipment for both the 4G LTE and 3G networks inside the arena” for the upcoming NBA All-Star Game in Orlando, and “recently completed high-tech in-building systems at various hotels and other facilities in the Orlando area.”

Wow, “high-tech” systems! What will they think of next?

And for the Daytona 500, an event that has roughly been going on since cars were invented, Verizon needs to truck in a couple COWs (“each featuring a 75-foot telescoping antenna and advanced hardware for both 4G LTE and 3G voice and high-speed data channels”) because apparently the existing network in the greater Daytona area will fall to its knees when the hundreds of thousands of “race fans” gather there later this week for the NASCAR season opener.

Leaving aside the offensive tone of the press releases, which assume a level of ignorance on the customer/press part (what exactly is a “high-tech” system, and how does that differ from the old stuff? Was that all coal-fired?), the bottom line is that Verizon and other carriers who put these press releases out are glossing over the fact that their standard cellular system deployment is way behind the times, especially in areas surrounding big sporting arenas. Even though the iPhone revolution has been going on now for almost 5 years, it seems as though carriers are still being caught by surprise by fans showing up at games wanting to use those whizzy phones that Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are selling them.

Get over it. Get out there and rebuild those networks, and make the necessary extra improvements around stadiums. You’re certainly charging folks enough to be do so, since your execs are all pulling down Prince Fielder paychecks. So spare us the “news” about having to compensate for bad network design and deployment. And get more of that “high-tech” stuff out there.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Daytona 500, iPhone, NBA, Sprint, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , ,
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