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Archives for 2012

Follow NBA Playoffs Live Online With TNT’s ‘Overtime’

May 14, 2012 by

Since I’ve been mostly following hockey and golf these days the NBA playoffs have been a real back-burner thing for me, especially after Derrick Rose went down with a bum knee. But today I discovered the NBA and TNT’s “Overtime” live online broadcasts and whoa, this is online done right.

For once, the promise of multiple cameras is delivered how you might want it — a specific cam on each team, one for general play, and then a “mosaic” view that splits the screen into four separate but continuous live camera views, perfect for those of you with attention disorder deficit problems.

There’s even a popup integrated chat window (which looks pretty tame right now) and an “ask the expert” feature that is a pure sponsor play. But overall I like the camera angle choices, the easy/no login required setup and the streaming performance. Sports Geekery has a good breakdown on all the components. Screen grab of the mosaic view below.

Filed Under: Live Sports Video Consumption, NBA, TNT Tagged With:

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is here-Let the iPhone Comparisons Begin!

May 14, 2012 by

Samsung is the leader in the tablet space- the non-Apple tablet space that is, and has expanded its offerings with the full size Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, a 10.-1 inch device that will naturally being comparisons to Apple’s iPad offerings.

However it seems that it is much more than just a competitor to Apple, it has to shone above the existing Android tablets and hold its own above the hope that will start coming from the Windows 8 tablet crowd.

The tablet uses the latest Android 4.0 operating system (Ice Cream Sandwich) is powered by 1GHz dual-core OMAP processor from Texas Instruments and has a 1280 x 800 display and has a 3.2 megapixel rear camera and a VGA front facing camera. An entry level model with 16GB of storage will have a $400 price tag.

It is doubtful that the big selling point for the tablet is going to be the hardware since it is pretty clos to what Samsung offered in its Galaxy Tab 10.1 but rather the full package which means lot of Samsung software and apps as well as the fact that it is $100 less than an iPad with the same storage at least a new iPad.

Among the software app that is included in the tablet are Peel smart remote, AllShare and Samsung Media Hub, and SoundAlive. In a review over at including Mashable the Peel app was rated pretty poorly, but there are a number of additional programs on the device as well.

Most sites that have reviewed the tablet give it at least a lukewarm approval rating, but I believe that Samsung should have shot for more. Its display is not as good as Apple’s nor is its camera. While it has a strong position in the Android space, it is about to face a huge wave of competition very soon.

PC World does a very nice job providing a roundup of what is expected throughout the summer, based on statements from the companies involved as well as rumors that seem to have some creditability. New or improved offerings from Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble and Amazon are all expected.

Then there will be the Windows 8 players sometime around the end of the summer. Hewlett-Packard has said it will be there as has Dell, although neither has said when. Then Microsoft’s new relationship with Barnes & Noble could bring that popular platform into the fold. Lenovo is making a major research and development effort n this area and could come in as an Android player, a Windows 8 or both with future offerings.

With this in front of it I am surprised that Samsung did not deliver a stronger offering although I suspect that this is a stopgap effort and that by the back to school season we may see yet another tablet from the company.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, Barnes & Noble, Dell, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, iPad, Kindle, Lenovo, Mashable, Microsoft, Nook, PCWorld, Samsung, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Looks like the USFL is for Real

May 14, 2012 by

We reported a few months back, on April Fool’s Day to be exact, that there were rumors that the United States Football League was about to resurrect itself as a spring football league and it now appears that the rumors were not a joke and that you can expect to hear more about the league in the coming months according to a piece at NBC Sports.

At the time of the report there was a web site for the league as well as at least one news story that claimed it was true and that they had interviewed the new owner of the league. Now we have seen a second piece that said that the league was for real.

It has now started to fill out a bit of its top management with the reported hiring for ex Oakland Raider great Fred Biletnikoff as an advisor for the league. The league also has James Bailey, a former executive for the Cleveland Browns and then the Baltimore Ravens for 21 years, on the USFL’s board of advisors.

The league intends to model itself after Major League Soccer and that it will have the players and coaches under contract to the league, rather than individual teams and said that it views itself as a minor league source for the NFL.

It has no plans to try and steal away, or even sign, players that are drafted by the NFL and will instead look to fill its ranks with both undrafted players and those that did not make the grade in their first try with NFL teams.

It has said that there have been no talks yet with the NFL but that it expects to have talks within the next 60 days and said that it will keep all of its practices and games open to NFL personnel. It is the process of gaining owners with ties to the areas where t hopes to locate teams and is creating a board of directors.

The USFL plans to be a summer league with initially eight teams. While no schedule has been announced I wonder how well non-drafted college players will be interested in going here instead of waiting for NFL minicamps and trying to catch on there instead. If the NFL gives its official blessing to the USFL’s role as a minor league that might help draw in these players. Also just a footnote, the web site I listed as the league’s in the first article was incorrect and the correct one is listed in this article. Sorry.

Filed Under: NBC Sports, NFL, NFL Draft, USFL Tagged With: ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: HP is Back with New Tablets

May 14, 2012 by

Study finds that 74% of smartphone owners use location services
A report from the Princeton Survey Research Associates shows that 74% of smartphone owners use their device to get real time location-based information. The study also found that 18% used a geosocial service to check-in to locations.

With roughly half of all Americans using a smartphone this is very good news for companies that take advantage of the variety of services that provide information about local businesses such as Yelp.

Hewlett-Packard vows return to tablet market this year
PC World is reporting the Hewlett-Packard executives are touting the company’s imminent return to the tablet space, something that they said will occur later this year. It plans to so with models that will support the Windows 8 operating system from Microsoft.

It is expected that HP, along with other Windows 8 tablet developers will focus as much on the business market as the consumer space .The company famously left and then reentered the hardware market and the tablet space over the last year, highlighted by the failure of its TouchPad tablet with HP’s own operating system.

I suspect that we will start seeing a great deal more –preannounced intentions to use Windows 8 as the launch date gets closer and it could make for an interesting dog fight in the tablet space. Will Windows 8 be accepted, will it erode Android and Apple’s iOS appear? Or maybe just make inroads in one of the two rivals space? It is too early to tell but it will make for an interesting end of the year.


Do people share too much info on-line? Intel study says yes.
A recent study conducted by Ipsos Observer and sponsored by Intel on the dual topics of “Mobile Etiquette” and “Digital Sharing,” reaffirmed what I believe many feel intuitively, that 90% of Americans adults believe that online users are sharing too much information.

This is the third such survey conducted by Intel and had some interesting results including a total of 85% said that they share information online while one-third surveyed said they are more comfortable sharing information online than in person and half said that without mobile information they would not know what was happening with friends and family.

Slow Internet Connection top issue for mobile users
In a mobile survey conducted by Prosper Mobile Insights focused on smartphone and tablet users the top issue that is a cause for concern is slow Internet connections with 36.9% listing it as the top service provider issue. Others that rated highly in the complaint list were cost of data plan at 32% (that low?) and dropped calls at 24.1%. Head over and see where your pet peeves were ranked.

Facebook’s Instagram purchase could be delayed
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has started a competition probe into Facebook’s $1bn purchase of Instagram, a move that could push the deal beyond the second quarter and so cause some heartburn at Facebook. The probe was expected as it is usual for deals of this size; the issue is that t could take as long as 12 months and Facebook has been telling people at its IPO road show that it would close in the second quarter.

Microsoft gets delay in German court
Microsoft, already on the end of a major losing patent battle with Motorola Mobility had its current case delayed by a German court. This trial has to do with a different patent that Motorola claims that Microsoft has infringed on, in this case one that deals with two way communications devices.

Facebook updates data use rules
Facebook has update its data use policies about what it gathers from users of its popular social site and how it uses that information. The move was motivated by an audit performed last year by Irish data protection authorities, Facebook said.

New charge in Oracle vs Google
Oracle has managed to get back on the winning track last week in its copyright and patent infringement case against Google over use of the Java technology. Oracle’s request for a judgment as a matter of law regarding an additional eight files copies directly into Android’s code base was granted, giving Oracle an additional copyright infringement win against Google. However as with its first win it still needs the matter of ‘fair use’ to be resolved.

Le Pan now Matsunichi-New Tablets due
Matsunichi has eliminated the Le Pan named that it was using earlier this year and has self labeled its tablet offerings as it enters into the cost effective tablet market. The company now has the MarquisPad MP977, a 9.7-inch table that is powered by a dual core 1.2GHz processor from Texas Instruments.
The $249 device features a 1024 x 768 display and will use the Android 4.0 operating system. There is 4GB of storage if you include the microSD card, or 2GB internal without the card. It has a front facing VGA camera.

The company has an additional tablet in the works, the MarquisPad MP979 that will have a more powerful dual core 1.5GHz processor with 8GB of storage as well as an additional 2GB MicroSD card, and it supports up to 32GB. The 9.7-inch device will also have 1024 x 768 resolution.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, FTC, Google, iPad, iPhone, Lawsuit, Mashable, Microsoft, Motorola, Oracle, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , ,

Get Ready, Twitter — Here Comes Kevin Na. Well, Maybe. No, Wait. Yes… No! Maybe… Yes!

May 13, 2012 by

If you caught any golf on the tube or online today you couldn’t miss the new trending topic of the PGA: Golfer Kevin Na and his unbelievable 5-minute pre-shot routine, where he practice swings, backs away, practices a few more times, then even maybe throwing in a full-swing miss over the ball (which is apparently legal) and then backing off again, practicing some more and then… finally… HITTING THE D@MN BALL.

Did we mention he’s leading the Players Championship, aka the “fifth major?” So all these other guys, with their high profile swing coaches, hours spent on the range, new souped up clubs, and monster man fitness routines… and they’re being beaten by a guy who is afraid to hit the ball?

If you want to know what’s behind Na’s eminently unique pre-shot approach there is no shortage of exhaustive stories out there (here’s a pretty good explanation with a video interview link). Geoff Shackelford also has some great video links so you can relive the agony. For the casual viewer I hope NBC tomorrow opens up its prime twosome coverage with some kind of rules explanation as to why it’s OK for Na to take a full whiff over the ball. (Here is the rule in question and a good explanation of why it’s not a penalty in tour play.) But for most golfers watching I am guessing it was a “C’mon man!” moment. If you’re playing with me and you pull one of those, my response would be, “that’s one.”

We’ll let the stewards of golf wring their hands over what the slow-playing Na would do to the soul of the game should his methods produce a victory. Here at MSR we will be watching the Twitter trending scorecard to see how high up his waggles get him.

Filed Under: Golf, NBC Sports, PGA Tagged With: , , ,

Viddy Lands $30m in Series B-Is it the next Instagram?

May 11, 2012 by

Viddy, an increasingly popular mobile video app developer has closed an impressive round of funding with a deal that raised $30 million from industrial investors, a sum that matches its 30 million registered users.

This is the second round of funding with Viddy closing its Series A last February after raising $6 million in a round that was led by Battery Ventures and included Qualcomm and Greycroft Ventures. The funding came from a number of high profile venture capital companies with New Enterprise Associates, Goldman Sachs, Khosla Ventures, and Battery Ventures all contributing to the current round.

The company said that the additional funds will be used to help it grow by hiring additional engineering talent, develop additional products and expanding its offerings overseas.

Viddy is one of the leading players in the mobile video market, fighting with rivals Socialcam, Klip and Mobli for the crown, but with this type of funding interest it seems likely that more will enter the field or at least seek to raise the level of awareness for their technology.

Currently the company’s app is only available for Apple’s iPhones and even with only that segment of the market its appeal is very strong, with an estimated 30 million users, a tremendous achievement for a one year old company.

The comparisons to Instagram are growing, and speculation has the company’s valuation at anywhere between $200 and $340 million, depending on what time of the day you look. There is no doubt that a technology like this would be very nice as part of a larger overall offering from Facebook, Twitter or even something browser related like Bing or Google.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Battery Ventures, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Khosla Ventures, Klip, Mashable, New Enterprise Associates, Social Media, Sports Social Media, Startup, Venture Capital, Viddy Tagged With: , ,
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