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Archives for 2012

Online Golf Back This Week: It’s All About the Island Green at The Players Championship

May 7, 2012 by

Call this an early version of “watching Golf this week” but we wanted to join in the leadup hype for what some call the “fifth major,” The Players Championship. The good news for those of us stuck at desks is that the PGA’s live online coverage, @Live, returns this week for the big-ticket players event.

There’s even an online “preview” show scheduled for Wednesday evening, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern. On Thursday and Friday @Live online coverage goes from 9 a.m. Eastern to 7 p.m., and on the weekend it’s Noon to 7 p.m. each day.

Though not as complete as the Masters online coverage, the PGA’s @Live broadcasts are pretty good, with all the camera angles and commentary you expect from a broadcast TV show. I hope there’s a 17th hole cam because this week is all about the Island Green. More viewing details later in the week.

Filed Under: Golf, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption Tagged With: , ,

Lenovo to Enhance Focus on Tablets & Smartphones

May 7, 2012 by

Lenovo to Leap into Tablet Space Next Year

The Lenovo Group has started building a new facility as part of an overall plan to expand its offerings into the mobile Internet market and will be investing approximately $800 million over the next five years as it seeks to become a player in that market segment.

The goal of the project is two sided. It wants to optimize its supply chain but it also wants to enter what it calls the PC Plus space, that of the mobile internet with tablets, smartphones and other mobile appliances

This appears to be a reboot of its presence in these spaces as it already has both smartphone and tablet offerings available globally. I suspect it is taking a page from Dell’s playbook in going back to the drawing board to come up with a fresh offering that can stand alone on its own merits.

The new Lenovo Industrial Base will be used primarily as a research and development site for developing its tablets and smartphones with the intention of creating the first generation products for the huge Chinese market as well as the global space.

The company has aggressive sales expectations and foresees revenue of approximately $1.5 billion by 2014 with a 5 x increase in the following five years. I wonder if it has selected an operating system for its tablets and smartphones yet. I suspect that both Microsoft and Google are hat in hand touting the pros of their respective platforms and the cons of their rivals.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, Lenovo, Microsoft, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Oracle vs Google Round 1 Almost Over

May 7, 2012 by

It seems that Microsoft is taking the next step in developing an ecosystem of apps around the next version of its operating system for smartphones with a developer conference at which it is suspected that the company will debut its Windows Phone 8. So save June 20-21 and plan on being in San Francisco.

iPad still hot as Kindle Fire cools?
Market research firm IDC has reported that Apple’s iPad tablet is still the tablet to own to most consumers as it gained market share in the first quarter of 2012, primarily at the expense of Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

The drop is rather sharp for Amazon, which at the end of 2011 it had a 17% market share which dropped to 4% in the first quarter. At the same time the iPad grew from 54.7% at the end of last year to 68%, according to the firm.

IDC said that it expected the drop because the iPad has international sales while the Fire is only available in the United States so that it was helped by the holidays and then the slump hit, but the drop was still larger than expected.

Did Kindle sales really die last quarter?
However its seems that the reports are overstated about the drop in Kindle sales, which while real to a degree seem to be overstated due to how the numbers are being looked at, or rather people are comparing apples to oranges.

Stephen Baker, NPD’s Group’s Vice President of Industry Analysts points out that people are mixing units shipped with units sold, and that not all of Amazon’s huge shipment numbers in the 4th quarter of 2011 were sold in that quarter, some of it leaked over into 2012, so that fewer units were shipped. To read his full comments go here.

Facebook buys another mobile developer
Facebook has purchased Glancee, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup that develops apps that help connect users with other people based on their location. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The app helps connect people by allowing them to examine profiles of people who are in their vicinity and who have either mutual friends or mutual interests.

Use you smartphone as a PC? Yes you can
While this is a bit old it is certainly interesting. Canonical is preparing to release a program called Ubuntu of Android that will allow users to connect a smartphone to a display and have a full Ubuntu desktop computer.

The two programs will work side by side, with the phone operating as a traditional Android phone. When connected to a monitor the Ubuntu OS takes over and the device displays a full desktop for the user.

The two will share data and services so that both run simultaneously on the device. With Canonical’s developer conference starting this week hopefully more information will come out about this effort.

Partial Verdict reached in Google vs Oracle Java battle
The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that the jury has reached a partial verdict in Oracle’s lawsuit against Google. It is reported that there is still one issue that it is divided on and they were sent home for the weekend.

The Boston Globe reported that it sounds like the split might be permanent as the jury sent a note to the judge asking what would happen if they could not agree on a verdict and said that some jurors appear to not be willing to budge from their position, making a split likely.

An interesting side note in the case is the discussion that went on last week over how much money Google has actually made from Android, an issue that will go to the heart of any remedy if Oracle prevails in the case, and one that rival OS developers are watching with interest.

Google presented numbers in the case that reportedly showed what it had earned from the technology and the judge questions if those numbers were ‘manufactured’ for the trial. He asked for the original documents to be presented today.

This is just the first of two stages in the trial, it being concerned with Oracle’s claims of copyright violation and the second, which is expected to start immediately, will have to do with patent violations.

Samsung’s Galaxy S III is here
Samsung, the new king of handset sales has expanded its lineup with the release of the Galaxy S III smartphone as its new top of the class offering. I would say the long awaited release, but it has been less than a year since the Galaxy S II was released.

The phone features a 4.8-inch HD Super Amoled screen with 720p resolution. It will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions. According to market research firm NPD Group, Samsung already accounts for a quarter of all US sales of smartphones and now it looks like it might increase on that lead.

Apple’s iOS device sales by quarter
A look at Apple’s smartphone and tablet shipments by quarter from the Boston Globe.
Quarter ending March 31, 2012: 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads
Quarter ending Dec. 31, 2011: 37 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads
Quarter ending Sept. 24, 2011: 17.1 million iPhones, 11.1 million iPads
Quarter ending June 25, 2011: 20.3 million iPhones, 9.25 million iPads
Quarter ending March 26, 2011: 18.65 million iPhones, 4.7 million iPads

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Microsoft, Oracle, Samsung, The Boston Globe Tagged With: , , , ,

Has the PGA Tour Mobile App for Android Missed the Cut?

May 6, 2012 by

Anyone else out there having problems with the PGA Tour app for Android phones? Was trying to watch video highlights of the Wells Fargo Classic all day today and the app would load just fine and show me thumbnails of video highlights — but when I clicked on them all I got was a black error screen saying “this video can not be played” or something to that effect.

Even though my Samsung Stratosphere runs on Verizon’s super fast 4G LTE network — and I regularly get great reception in and around town — the video didn’t work on LTE, and it didn’t work on the home Wi-Fi. The FAQ is of little help. From the looks of the forum boards there are many others out there experiencing some sort of fail with the app, though others report no problems. Anyone out there from PGA mobile land monitoring the boards? Helllloooo! Your app does not work… help!

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Golf, PGA Tagged With: , ,

Looking for NBA Games? BuddyTV wants to Guide You

May 4, 2012 by

One of the challenges to following sports playoffs is that the games are often carried on multiple channels, sometimes overlapping time slots and sometimes not- the question is where is the game? Well BuddyTV Guide is seeking to solve that question.

BuddyTV Guide is a free app that has been available for some time for Apple iOS and Android owners, but it has added a feature that targets fans of the current NBA playoffs and should enable them to more easily follow the various contests.

The app has added an “NBA Playoffs” feature that will enable users to find all of the games from now until the end of time, or rather until the NBA Championship end. It has automatic updates and is designed to use local airtime and channels so no worries about thinking a game starts in ET and it is not.

The nice thing about this feature in my mind is that as teams are eliminated and advance the listings automatically update themselves so that they are always current. This brings to 4 the number of curated lists at BuddyTV, the others are Most Popular, Watch List and Upcoming all of which update automatically each time a user logs in.

The NBA Guide brings to 4 the number of curated lists at BuddyTV, the others are Most Popular, Watch List and Upcoming all of which update automatically each time a user logs in.

At a basic level BuddyTV Guide is designed for a user to log in to their cable, sync it with the app and then program in your favorite shows and channels. You can have it not follow channels that you are not interested in as well. It will also make recommendations based on previous viewing history and favorites.

The smartphone can act as a remote control and is also compatible with a range of additional devices including AT&T U-verse receivers, DirecTV DVRs, Sony Internet TV with Google TV, Logitech Revue, TiVo Series 3, TiVo Premier, and any devices controlled by Google TV and Samsung Smart TVs.

There are other solutions to finding games such as NBC’s local channel finder for the NHL playoffs, but that is an online feature rather than a phone app, which is a bit more convenient.

I like this and hope it is a trend of the future. Some leagues, particularly the NFL are relatively easy to know when and at what time the games are played while others such as, well pretty much everybody else has a much more varied schedule that is more difficult to follow.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, BuddyTV Guide, NBA, NBA Game Time, NBC Sports, NFL, Startup Tagged With: , , ,

NASCAR Returns to Talladega This Weekend

May 4, 2012 by

Nothing like a little controversy to spice up a race, and Kyle Busch’s fourth consecutive victory at Richmond had its share. The one that stands out to me is how the race ended. A caution came out for a hazard on the track with 13 laps remaining- the hazard apparently being a water bottle.

At the time Tony Stewart was leading and he lead down pit road, but Busch beat him back on the track and hung on for the last laps for the victory. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also passed Stewart, this time on the track, to finish second and pushing Stewart to third. The other top placers were Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne,

The other issue from the race revolved around Carl Edwards, and his spotter. Apparently on the restart after a caution that occurred when Jeff Burton hit a wall with 81 laps remaining, Edwards lined up next to Stewart and was told by his spotter that he was the leader. The flag dropped and off he went, and down came a black flag. At first told that he had jumped the start and passing the leader it was later ruled that it he left too early as he was not the leader. He managed to finish 10th.

It should be mentioned that the victory snapped a 22 race losing streak for Busch. In other news the top of the leader board is getting pretty snug with the gap between the leader and others closing, as well as some shuffling among the top 5.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -5
3) Denny Hamlin -9
4) Matt Kenseth -10
5) Martin Truex Jr. -22

This Weekend
The Talladega Superspeedway will be the home for his weekend’s Aaron’s 499. The track is a 2.66 mile tri-oval with turns banked anywhere from 16.5 degrees to 33 degrees. It should be a very exciting race as last year the track witnessed 88 lead changes.


Broadcast
May 6, 12 pm ET on Fox

Twitter Feeds
@TalladegaSuperS- Track’s Official Feed
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton

The Nationwide Series
Last weekend’s Nationwide race did not have as much controversy, but there was always the spectacle of heavily talked about rookie Travis Pastrana. The race winner, starting off a great weekend for the Busch clan, was Kurt Busch.

Busch won with a great finish as the last laps were contested by Denny Hamlin with a great deal of side by side racing that witnessed Busch winning by a nose. The fact that Hamlin was in a position to challenge was a tribute to his driving as he missed his spot on pit road and had to drive around.

Kevin Harvick looked like a winner for much of the race, leading 158 laps, but fell back late and finished third while Rickey Stenhouse Jr. and Sam Horish Jr. filling out the top five. Morgan Shepherd led 4 laps, which at 70 years of age is quite an accomplishment.

Two heavily watched drivers, Travis Pastrana and Danica Patrick finished mid-pack. Patrick started 16th but ended in 21st while Pastrana started 25th and managed to pull up to 22nd and might have done better but he was hit with a pass through penalty.

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Rickey Stenhouse Jr. -2
3) Austin Dillon -23
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -53
5)Michael Annett -65

The cancellation of two practice sessions yesterday due to rain and changes to today’s practices at the track has lead to an already set lineup for tomorrows Aaron 312 race. In order the top 5 are Sadler, Stenhouse Jr., Harvick, Joey Logano and Dillon.

Broadcast
3 pm ET on ABC

Filed Under: ABC, Athlete to Follow, Danica Patrick, Fox Sports, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series, Talladega Superspeedway, Tony Stewart Tagged With:
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