You are here: Home / Archives for 2012

Archives for 2012

Friday Grab Bag: New U.S. Olympics Basketball Coach?

August 17, 2012 by

US wins Olympic gold in 2012

After winning Olympic gold this year with the U.S. basketball team, head coach Mike Krzyzewski has said that he is stepping down. This has already led to speculation about who will helm the U.S. teams through the next round of international competition.

While it looks like the powers that be will try and retain Krzyzewski if at all possible they are already making contingency plans that include Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich as the leading candidates, according to Sports Illustrated.

Nokia and Microsoft expected to launch Windows 8 phone soon
It appears that in an attempt to steal Apple’s thunder Microsoft and smartphone ally Nokia will be introducing Nokia’s next generation smartphone powered by Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system for smartphones on Sept. 5.

The two companies have sent out press invites for an event in New York City that indicates that Windows Phone and Nokia smartphones are the topic. Apple is expected to release the next generation iPhone, currently called iPhone5, a few weeks later.

Would you use Twitter if it was ad-free?
That is what one start-up is hoping. App.net has raised $600,000 in seed money with the idea that it can build a better Twitter, one without ads. Using crowd funding favorite Kickstarter, App.net seeks to offer an alternative.

The goal is to have a messaging system that is paid for by users, $50 per year, and developers who will pay an annual fee of $100 for access to the API. It has already received donations from over 10,000 potential users to the tune of $676,000, and was only seeking $500,000.

San Diego Padres

Did MLBAM raise Padres’ selling price?
The San Diego Padres recently sold for $800 million to a consortium that was led by Peter O’Malley along with others including golfer Phil Mickelson. Amid the various components of the deal is the increased role that MLKB’s Advanced Media group plays in team value.

In a nice piece in Forbes, assignment writing

-for-one-quarter-of-padres-800-million-sale/”>Mike Ozanian traces the growing impact that MLBAM has on team value, and the revenue stream that it brings in for teams, now valued at $6 billion. I thought that it just helped create nice games and contests!

Microsoft divulges the Windows RT Developers
Microsoft has said that it has finished Windows RT, the version of Windows 8 that is designed to run on tablets that are powered by processors built using ARM technology. While Microsoft has already said that it will deliver Surface tablets that support RT when it debuts Windows 8 it now has said who else is supporting that version of the operating system.

The fellow travelers will include Dell, Asus, Lenovo and Samsung. Microsoft provided some general guidelines a few of the tablets’ features including saying they will be 11% thinner than Apple’s iPad and weigh 20% less than an iPad.

RECAPP updates in time for NFL season
If you have not tried the sports news aggregator RECAPP app and are a fan of the NFL now might be the time to try it. The program has had some enhancements added in order to make it easier to use and have enhanced performance.

The program brings together articles from top news and sport sites together according to a users stated preference. So a fan of the NFL can get general articles on the topic while fans of the Miami Dolphins get articles centered on the team.

Love the Surface rumors
A few weeks ago there were a few articles that claimed that the upcoming Surface tablet from Microsoft would cost in the range of $1,000. Now the worm has turned and rumors are emerging that it will be released at a $199 price point.

While I discounted the $1,000 projection, the $199 might have legs. According to Endgadget, Microsoft is preparing a Surface tablet that will run its Windows RT operating system and have it available at the formal introduction of Windows 8 on October 26th.

That would likely mean that it is being sold for less than cost, as its price would put it in line with the breakdown estimates for the 7-in Google Nexus 7 tablets. However it seems that Microsoft was saying that RT version of Windows 8 would trail Windows 8 by a few weeks so is the company going to release a version prior to its OEMs that are also making RT tablets?

The Rams drop London from schedule
The St. Louis Rams have dropped plans to play two home games in London that were scheduled to be played in 2013 and 2014 although the team still plans to play New England there this year on October 28th.

zp8497586rq
Filed Under: Apps, Asus, Baseball, Basketball, Dell, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, NFL, Olympics, Samsung Tagged With: , ,

RadioShack Tour Tracker Will Return For Second USA Pro Challenge Mobile Coverage

August 17, 2012 by

The USA Pro Challenge debuted in Colorado in 2011 as a new stage race but with a long history in some respects dating to the iconic Coors Classic which ended in 1988. The high degree of the new event's success even surprised race organizers.

Strong online and mobile event coverage helped in 2011, and it will return for the race's second edition, Aug. 20-26, beginning in Durango, Colo., via the RadioShack Tour Tracker.

Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), the third-place finisher in this year’s Tour de France, 2011 Tour de France titlist Cadel Evans (BMC) of Australia and defending race titlist Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) of the United States are among the favorites for the Colorado race.

Five of the top 13 finishers in this year’s Tour de France plus a host of other Tour de France and Olympic riders will participate in the 683-mile, seven-stage race that will take the expected field of 126 cyclists from 16 teams to Denv

er.

The free RadioShack Tour Tracker (RSTT) app is downloadable from the Apple app store and Google Play. Available as a mobile and web-based app (online at prochallenge.com/RadioShack-TourTracker), RSTT features live video coupled with real time data, including stats and the standing of each rider.

Each stage will be detailed “on the road” and will immediately report breakaways, time gaps, speed and road gradient.

Fans viewing the race in person can use the RadioShack Tour Tracker’s integrated GPS tracking to monitor race progress on the detailed course map and anticipate the arrival time at their viewing point.

The TourTracker is considered the premier online and mobile race coverage platform. (Editor's note: We profiled Tour Tracker last year.) It addition to the USA Pro Challenge, it's utilized in the Tour de France, Tour of California, Tour of Utah and other international cycling events.

James Raia is a California-based journalist who writes about sports, travel and leisure. Visit his cycling site at tourdefrancelife.com

zp8497586rq
Filed Under: Apps, Cycling, iPhone, Tablets, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Video Streaming Tagged With: , , ,

Fox Offers Mobile and TV Options with start of English Premier League

August 16, 2012 by

the Barclays English Premier League

Well the Euro 2012 is over, the Summer Olympics are over and now ramping up is the Barclays English Premier League that starts up again this weekend and Fox Sports will continue to broadcasting of the matches with the first broadcast dates already set.

The first match will be broadcast this Saturday, early in the morning on the East Coast as West Brom kicks it off against Liverpool, followed later in the day by Newcastle vs Tottenham. Both of these matches will be live with additional games scheduled that will be taped.

Last year’s final day of the season brought on some major surprises as Manchester City won the

title for the first time since 1968 when it beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 on the last day of the season even as rival Manchester United was celebrating on the field when it believed that the titles was theirs. The title was decided on goal differential and Manchester City scored in the waning moments to clinch the title.

It will be hard to beat an ending such as that this season but Fox will be providing not only the games on television but also has a full set of solutions for mobile fans with Android and iOS solutions as well as providing the ability to watch via computer.

Fox offers solutions for the mobile fan as well with its FoxSoccer2Go which has a huge array of leagues and matches. Aside from the Premier League, of which it will broadcast 270 matches, it also has Europa League, UEFA Champions League and NCAA Soccer. In all it expects to broadcast a minimum of 100 matches a moth for the 2012/2013 season. It also covers rugby.

It has an on-demand feature that provides replays of matches for between 3 and seven days after the conclusion of the matches, depending on the league.

zp8497586rq
Filed Under: Apple, Barclays English Premier League, Fox Sports, FoxSoccer, iOS, Rugby, Soccer Tagged With: ,

Olympic Medals Lead to Growing Twitter Followings for Athletes

August 15, 2012 by

The recently concluded Summer Olympics in London have been a boon for athletes in all manner of ways, from individual glory and sudden fame, which can account for marketing and advertising deals that further benefit them down the road.

The impact of the games can be seen in a quick look at Twitter numbers, both for the games overall as well as for individuals who were the most talked about and who gained new followers as a result.

Twitter has posted some interesting numbers from the 16 days of events. It said that it had 150 million tweets over that span and that the top three were Usain Bolt winning the gold in the 200m sprints at 80,000+ tweets per minute (TPM). He managed 74,000TPM winning the 100m sprint.

Local favorite Andy Murray racked up 57,000 TPM on his way to gold in men’s single tennis, while the Jamaican 4×100 relay team’s gold recorded a 41,000. It is somewhat difficult to compare the results to previous world events because Twitter often posts the amount of tweets per second, but does not give a time frame over which that number averaged. However you can look here to see some of the top events of 2011 in terms of tweets.

The height of tweeting always took place duri

ng an event, rather than at the awards ceremony, particularly when it was a spectacular individual play. The top ten athletes that garnered a minimum of 1 million tweets each were:
1) Usain Bolt
2) Michael Phelps
3) Tom Daley
4) Ryan Lochte
5) Gabby Douglas
6) Andy Murray
7) Kobe Bryant
8 ) Yohan Blake
9) Lee Chong Wei
10) LeBron James

In many ways this was to be expected but now athletes are seeing that their followings growing, and now that the Olympic ban on talking about sponsors has ended, this can only benefit the athletes.

According to market intelligence firm Fresh Egg, which tracked athletes from Great Britain some of the athletes witnessed huge growth in their followings. Tom Daley saw a net increase of 821,000 followers, a 265% increase. Jessica Ennis saw a 235% increase with the addition of 408,000 new followers. It should be noted that the increase levels off after about the top 17. Overall the Team GB went from having roughly 3 million followers’ pre-Olympics to 5.7 million post Olympics, an 88% increase.

I can only imagine the numbers in four years when the games head down to Rio. The question here is will the IOC continue its ban on athletes mentioning sponsors in their tweets and other social media uses? If not athletes will be able to point out the growth of their followings after medal wins and other notable events when they negotiate with potential sponsors and so see additional fruits from their labors.

zp8497586rq
Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, Olympics, Twitter Tagged With: ,

Little League World Series Starts – Plenty of Games Available to View on Mobile Devices

August 15, 2012 by

Little League World Series

The Little League World Series starts in earnest this week. Over the last few weeks I have caught parts of the various regional games as the field has been narrowed down to the 16 teams that get invited to play in the championship rounds in South Williamsport, Pa.

Now the two fields, US and International, have been filled out and the teams will start to play for the glory that is winning the championship an event that virtually every baseball fan I know wishes that they had the opportunity to play in. Where I grew up one of the local teams made it (but lost 2-0) when I was young and the younger brothers and sisters of the players got reflected glory for even being related.

It is interesting to note that in the 66th playing of the LLWS, US teams have won 33 times and international have won 32 times. Will an international squad even the score this year?

There are eight regional sections in the US Pool:
1) Mid-Atlantic: Par Troy East Little League, Parsippany, N.J.
2) West: Petaluma National Little League, Petaluma, Ca.
3) Southwest: McAllister Park, San Antonio, Texas
4) Great Lakes: New Castle Little League, New Castle, Ind.
5) New England: Fairfield Little League, Fairfield, Conn.
6) Midwest: Kearney Little League, Kearney, Neb.
7) Southwest: Goodlettsville Little League, Goodlettsville, Tenn.
8 ) Northwe

st: Gresham Little League, Gresham, Or.

As well as eight in the International Pool:
1) Caribbean: Pariba Little League, Willemstad, Curacao
2) Japan: Kitasuna Little League, Tokyo,
3) Mexico: Oriente Little League, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
4) Europe: Kaiserslautern Military Command (KMC) American Little League
5) MEA (Mideast & Africa) Lugazi Little League, Lugazi, Uganda
6) Latin America: Aguadulce Cabezera Little League, Aguadulce, Panama
7) Canada: Hastings Community Little League, Vancouver, British Columbia
8 ) Asia-Pacific: Kuei-Shan Little League, Taoyuan County, Taipei

The first round is a double elimination round that starts on August 16 with Japan vs. Caribbean and then an additional three games, all broadcast on a variety of ESPN outlets including ABC, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com and ESPN 3D. I think that with mid-day starts fans will appreciate the ability to use ESPN3.com’s watchESPN and view the games live on their work computer or mobile device.

I did not realize the scope to which the tournament and others related to it has grown over the years. While this article mostly mentions the Little League Baseball World Series, the 66th annual, there are seven additional tournaments in all.

The other seven Little League World Series dates and sites are: Big League Baseball (15-18-year-olds; Easley, S.C.; July 25-Aug. 1); Big League Softball (14-18-year-olds; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Aug. 1-8); Senior League Softball (13-16-year-olds; Lower Sussex, Del.; Aug. 5-11); Little League Softball (11-12-year-olds; Portland, Ore.; Aug. 9-15); Junior League Softball (12-14-year-olds; Kirkland, Wash.; Aug. 12-18); Junior League Baseball (12-14-year-olds; Taylor, Mich.; Aug. 12-18); and Senior League Baseball (13-16-year-olds; Bangor, Maine; Aug. 12-18).

zp8497586rq
Filed Under: ABC, Baseball, ESPN, ESPN3, Little League World Series, WatchESPN Tagged With: ,

NFL Offers a Great Range of Apps for Mobile Users

August 14, 2012 by

NFL '12

The first week of the National Football League’s preseason ended last night with a thump as the Dallas Cowboys beat the Oakland Raiders 3-0 in a game that started out like a ball of fire but quickly cooled as time passed.

I was not able to watch the game and since I do not currently use Verizon I could not stream the game over my phone, and I decided not to use the NFL’s site to get the basic about what was going on. Later a friend called and asked if I had seen the run that McFadden had early in the game. I did not and was not willing to watch SportsCenter that late in the evening to catch it.

I did wander over to the NFL’s web site and was amazed at the number of options available for mobile customers, something that seems to have expanded greatly from last year when it seemed that it was Verizon or nothing.

The main point of interest was the breadth of offerings, eight in all, not counting several additional ones that were games. I will not recount all of them here, but several are very worth of downloading on your phone or tablet.

The lead one is the NFL’s official app, NFL’12 that follows all of the games with play by play as they occur. It can be set to provide alerts for scoring and games and has the ability to chat with others while the game is being p

layed. It has full integration with another app from the NFL- NFL.Com’s Fantasy Football so that you can access your team from within this app. Pretty standard stuff but certainly a must for NFL fans.

There are two that stood out for me however. The first was Game Pass, a subscription based app. This has two features, the first being audio pass that enables you to listen to live game broadcasts. Good until Jan.4, 2013 the program also lets you listen to any game from the 2009-2011 season as well. It is currently available for $24.99 A paired down version to follow only your favorite team is also available for $22.99.

The second part is Game Rewind, which lets you watch replays of all the games. In some cases it provides coaches film views of plays as well as the broadcast version. The program is currently $39.99 or for the single team view $34.99. There is also a subscription based app called NFL Preseason Live, designed just for tablets.

Then there is the NFL Mobile from Verizon that permits live streaming video from the NFL Network. There is the already mentioned Fantasy Football Mobile that allows players of the NFL’s Fantasy Football to control their teams from mobile devices. A related app is the Fantasy Cheat Sheet, targeted at the Fantasy Football players.

Baseball has been at the forefront of pushing mobile apps, in my opinion, and I believe that the NFL has significantly closed the gap with the huge array of offerings that it now has available. I will be downloading several to see how well I like them, as well as some of the games to see how much productivity I can kill.

zp8497586rq
Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Fantasy Sports, iOS, NFL Tagged With: ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »