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Archives for 2012

A Two-Part Tablet? Sony Says Why Not?

March 13, 2012 by

Not sure how I missed AT&T’s introduction of the Sony Tablet P last week, but I did. While there has been a ton of news in the mobile world about a variety of products from the latest Pad to all of the products shown in Barcelona, the Tablet P is a bit different.

The reason for this is that it is a hybrid, but not like say, the Samsung Note that is a cross between a tablet and a smartphone. This is a hybrid because it is a tablet that folds in half. The clamshell form would seem to put it solidly in the notebook/netbook category, but is it one?

Not really but I think that many will view it as such, and tablets are still new enough that many will want one with what they view as the proper from factor, not a device that can be mistaken for a netbook.

The Tablet P is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of storage with an additional 2GB available using a microSD card. It runs the Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system. It has a 5 MP camera and can record 720p video

The key feature on the tablet is the display, which consists of two separate 5.5-inch touch screens with 1024 x 480 resolution. The device folds nicely into a small form factor and can be easily stowed, or at least easier than a 10-inch tablet can be. It basically has the size of a smartphone when closed.

The tablet has Sony Playstation certification and looks to be a solid game machine, but if that is what a user wants why not get a Sony PS Vita? A bit more feature rich it might make a nice backup device for a notebook user, but appears to lack the storage for that. The Tablet P looks like it just does not fit well into any one niche and it will be interesting to see if Sony can create one for it. Rightnow that is not the way I would bet.

The tablets are available now for around $500 from Sony’s official web site but AT&T is offering the tablet bundled with a Sony Ericsson Xperia Play phone for $299.99

Filed Under: Apps, AT&T, Sony, Tablets Tagged With: ,

Timeout Tuesday: Here’s Your Time-wasting Sports Videos

March 13, 2012 by

Who doesn’t want a dunk fiesta to start your Tuesday off right? What better way to start than with a Derrick Rose tomahawk, courtesy of the turnstile defense of the Knicks Monday night:

How about golf? Poor Tiger Woods got the O.J. Simpson treatment Sunday with the TV cameras following his car as he left the course after withdrawing because of an Achilles injury. But did you catch him on Saturday, making par “the hard way” after rinsing his tee shot on a par 3? Shades of #16 at Augusta… here is El Tigre, and four other “shots of the week.”

This next one might be unofficial but it was a great play — Colorado’s Carlon Brown caught Arizona sleeping during Saturday’s Pac-12 tournament championship game and slammed one down hard:

And… since I went to CU and can’t remember Buffs hoops ever being worth a damn to watch, a Carlon Brown encore, this one to help polish off Cal in the semis. Who knew Buffs could jam?

And this isn’t a video of her win last weekend (couldn’t find one yet) but we’d like to spend a minute or so honoring American skier Lindsey Vonn, who may just go down in history as the greatest ever for her sport. What I like about this GS at Kranjska Gora is how she almost buys the farm near the end but recovers with such grace that you have to look closely to even see the slip. It’s probably what cost her a podium here but the form is just damn fine skiing. And somehow the foreign-language commentary just makes it seem more exotic.

Filed Under: ESPN, NBA, NCAA Hoops, PGA, Skiing Tagged With: , , ,

It’s Madness Time: Join the MSR Bracket, Follow the NIT @ ESPN

March 12, 2012 by

Is anyone getting any work done today, or is everyone filling out brackets? If you are looking for a place to show the world your NCAA hoops savvy look no farther than the inaugural MSR Bracket Challenge. Hosted over at ESPN, of course, the group is public so come one come all. If you are searching for the group its title is the “MSR Bracket Challenge.” We’ll think of some cool prize for winning; if any sponsors want to step up with some schwag hit me with an email to kaps at mobilesportsreport.com.

Also: If your team didn’t make the dance (Sorry Washington fans!) you will probably be headed over to ESPN since the WWL has the rights to the National Invitation Tournament, including some games shown only online at ESPN3. Here’s the full NIT broadcast schedule.

And here’s a great post from The Big Lead showing NCAA broadcast times and (most importantly) which announcing crews will be on hand.

UPDATE: How cool is this? A CBS Sports interactive map of the tournament field.

Filed Under: About MSR, Contests, ESPN, ESPN3, NCAA Hoops, The Big Lead, truTV, Turner Sports, WatchESPN Tagged With: ,

MLS embracing Social Media

March 12, 2012 by

Major League Soccer has kicked off its season last weekend with it its new broadcasting deal with partner NBC. You might have missed the broadcasts because it seems that people are missing NBC Sports a good deal these days leading to very bad ratings.

NBC’s woes might not go away soon due to the fact that the MLS has not yet broken through as a ratings driver. Its troubles in this area are varied, and it has at different times come under fire for everything from when it starts to its trading window. A good look at some of the issues can be found in these transcripts from Eric Wynalda.

Yet if you attend a match the energy is great. Fans are knowledgeable and attendance is growing. So what more can be done? Well using social media and other tools to keep the sport in front of fans is one step, and one that the league is taking.

It conducted a Twitter-based contest last weekend called #FirstKick for fans attending their teams opening match. The rules were pretty simply and any fan with access to Twitter that attended a match could participate. All you needed to do was tweet a photo of you or your friends from a match to win.

The tweet needed a @MLS twitter handle; it needed the #FirstKisk hashtag, proof that you were actually at the game in the photos such as stadium, player, promo or sign visible in your photo and last a link to your photo available on public domain, ex. Twitpic, Lockerz, Yfrog, Photobucket, Flickr, etc.

Submissions were accepted from Saturday, March 10 at 6 PM EST and ends on Monday, March 12 at 11:59 PM EST, so there is still time to send your photo in! There will be a winner draw at random for each day.

Fans that are traveling, or have games that are not broadcast can watch the action via MLS Live, which the league has revamped for the current season. The program, which does have blackout rules, allows fans to watch games via computer, iPad or iPhone, Roku and can be integrated with Apple TV for broadcast as well. Cost for a season is $59.99 and the free preview unfortunately ends on March 12.

The league has the obligatory Facebook page that also has the ability to keep fans in touch with what is going on in games and the league as a whole. I was surprised to find two friends that I did not know were fans not only subscribed to the page but also wrote about the sport in blogs and posts elsewhere. I guess when you have 325,000 likes that is inevitable (the league not me). I did not check Myspace.

I feel that the aggressive use of outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as revamping and increasing its online presence is vital to the success of MLS. The league has a number of soccer only stadiums that show off its product very well. But it is obvious that television alone will not get the message out.

Even as sports powerhouses Fox Sports and ESPN continue to turn up the presence of soccer in their sports programming, MLS often seems to be missing in the mix. Fox captured the World Cup broadcasts in 2018 and 2022 and has increased its broadcasting of soccer matches, just not US MLS. ESPN, after losing the World Cup to Fox has still increased its broadcasting and online efforts with things such as broadcasting the UEFA European Championships and upgrading its online presence.

MLS has been expanding and has seen strong attendance in the new towns like Portland where its games last season were sold out. However television viewership has been flat and this does not bode well for the sport. According to the Big Lead last weekend, MLS averaged 291,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN2 last season and 70,000 viewers on FOX Soccer. That is just sad.

The league, which is kicking off its 17th season, does not have to worry about out of control salaries for players due to a hard cap, but this is a disadvantage because it will be hard to lure top talent from around the world or to keep talent that hears the siren call of a big payday. Glowing television viewership can change that, but it will take all of its tools, on-line, mobile and broadcast, to achieve this dream.

Filed Under: Apps, ESPN, Facebook, Fox Sports, FoxSoccer, Live sports via mobile, MLS, NBC Sports, Soccer, Social Media, The Big Lead Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Mashable to sell for $200 million?

March 12, 2012 by

TV makers missing the boat on apps?
The NY Times has a nice, short pierce on how other forms of streaming video are increasingly sidelining television viewing and that they need to add a greater degree of connectivity to compete with developments such as Apple TV and even smartphones. It asks some of the questions that likely be the basis of this conversation going forward.

How is Twitter’s Finances?
Gawker has come forth saying that the micro blogger’s revenue and profits are poor, based on leaked information that that site has received. Twitter has been pronouncing that it has seen an uptick in its performance but Gawker says otherwise.

It claims that in 2010 Twitter had total revenue of $28.5 million, a pretty good number for a startup until the fact that it had to spend three times that to earn the revenue and that for the year it reported a net loss of $67.8 million.

The company, which has 100 million active users, does not appear to have a comprehensive plan to maintain steady revenue, according to the article, which claims that it could be the greatest tech bust ever.

March Madness is here- so are the apps (for iPhones)
Appolicious has taken the time to track down and do a nice short write up on 5 apps that can help you track the tournament and follow your teams. They are both free and paid apps and cover just scores to ones that include analysis, news updates and bracket creators and tracking information.

Generation C?
Labeling generations seems to be an art, although I have always wondered why the first I had heard of was Generation X. I mean why start at the bottom of the alphabet? Well the good folks at Nielsen have come up with another, Generation C.

At least this one makes sense as the C stands for connected and its members are Americans in the 18-34 age group, or 23% of the overall population. Gen C make up 27% of online video viewers, 27% of those that visit social networking sites, represent 33% that own a tablet and 39% of the smartphone owners.

Mashable on the block?
Reuters is reporting that CNN is in talks to purchase social media news site Mashable for more than $200 million. Mashable covers a range of areas in the tech and social media sector including startup news and issues related to major players. CNN declined to comment.

One interesting aftereffect of the big Apple iPad announcement is that it seems to have unleashed a wave of rumors about pending rival products. While there is always talk about company A planning to do such and such with its next generation platform, it seems much more pronounce these days. Of course it could be that I am just now paying more attention, anyway here are a few of the more interesting ones.

Google and Asus to team on 7-inch Tablet?
DigiTimes is reporting that Google and Asus are teaming to deliver a 7-inch Android tablet that will be shipping in May. Targeted directly at the e-reader space that is currently dominated by two players, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook the tablet is reported to be in the $199-$249 price range.

Padfone to ship in April?
It looks like Asus will be delivering its Padfone convertible next month, at least in select markets. I have to say that this is the device that I am very interested in getting my hands on. The reason is that the phone snaps into the tablet and the phones processor powers the entire device. This way a user can get a tablet with 3/4G without a separate contract, a major drawback on connecting tablets to digital networks.

The Padfone is a three piece product with the first being 4.3-inch smartphone designed for the Android 4.0 operating system powered by a Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual core processor. That can be inserted into the top of a 10.1-inch tablet, and there is a keyboard dock as well

This and that

Instagram looks to Android
Instagram is coming real soon to the Android. Founder Kevin Systrom showed, but did not give a full demo of the app at SXSW. The company said that it currently has 27 million users.

Some iPads will be late
Apple’s recently introduced iPad, set for delivery this Friday, will be missing in some areas due to an overwhelming demand for the product. The company said that it has sold out and that some buyers will have to wait as long as three weeks to get their orders.

Nvidia vs Apple Rd 1
Nvidia disputes Apple’s claim that the iPad is 2x faster than nVidia’s Tegra 3 processor. Its response can be boiled down to simply- let’s see the data. Wonder if this is the first shot in a benchmark war a la Intel/AMD from a decade ago?

Path now syncs with Nike +
For users of the iPhone app that makes a journal of your life for your friends it now enables you to share your workout stats using Nike’s Nike + technology, with more forthcoming when Nike releases the Nike + Fuelband product.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Live sports via mobile, NCAA Hoops, Smartphone, Tablets, The New York Times Tagged With: , , , ,

PGA Also Embraces the Instant Web Highlight: Watch Paul Casey’s Hole in One

March 11, 2012 by

In the old days you used to have to wait until SportsCenter came on and wait longer through the program, not daring to go to the bathroom if there was an obscure highlight that you wanted to see. Now, every league and sport is getting the online religion. If something cool happens like a monster dunk, or a fantastic finish, put it on YouTube or on your own site — and let people share it. That’s how we are able to let you see Paul Casey’s hole in one today — minutes after it happened:

What this means in the long run, we’re not sure. Maybe the end of networks as we know them? I doubt that. But right now it’s good news for sports fans, to be able to get their highlights as soon as possible. Here’s hoping it continues and spreads.

Filed Under: Golf, PGA, YouTube Tagged With: , , ,
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