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Friday Grab Bag: MLB Looks at iBeacon

September 27, 2013 by

In the last few weeks Microsoft has been very good at starting rumors with its vague comments about potential new directions and the latest is that it might be looking at delivering a Phablet that runs the unpopular Windows RT operating system.

As reported by Slash Gear, Microsoft vice president Terry Myerson speaking at the company’s financial analyst meeting last week said that the distinction between a phone and a tablet is blurring and that has seen the growth of the Phablet space.

Google’s Balloon idea about to pop?
Much has been made about Google’s plan to launch a series of balloons to provide Wi-Fi-around the globe in an effort called Project Loon. Now Per Lindstrand has come out against the program calling it ‘a waste of time.’

If you are unfamiliar with Lindstrand he was Richard Branson’s partner as they sought to fly a balloon around the world. He said that he expects the balloons to eventually all gather at the North or South Pole.

MLB gives iBeacon a trial run
One of the features in Apple’s recently released iOS 7 operating system is something called iBeacon. It is a technology that is designed to address the shortcomings that GPS suffers from when used indoors.

Now MLB has demonstrated the potential of the technology for use at ballgames and has the potential to bring fans to within 10 feet of their destination, not within the ½ mile that is how much a GPS can be off. No word yet if it will incorporate it in its At the Ballpark app, but keep an eye out next season.

Wall Street misses on Apple iPhone sales
The day that Apple released its latest generation iPhones the naysayers were out in force. The company has lost its mojo, CEO Cook is not inventive enough, the new phones are a dud and on and on as the stock, which had soared prior to the rollout started to sink.

The market put sales of the new phones in the 6 to 7.5 million range and just a week later Apple is breaking the 10 million unit barrier and phones are on backorder. In addition the company told Wall Street to expect quarterly earnings to be at the high end of the range it had previously announced. Mojo rising I guess.

Intel invests in Google Glass rival
Recon Instruments, which has been making wearable technology for some time has announced that Intel has come on board as a significant investor, although the sum has not been revealed. Recon makes Heads-up Displays for sports.

Recon has a number of partners including Oakley and has been shipping, and selling the devices at a number of outlets worldwide, including Apple Stores. Recon said that so far it has shipped over 50,000 devices.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 ship date set from Sprint
Sprint has announced that it will be shipping the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 on Oct. 4. So fans of the very popular phone can start getting in line soon. The real good news for many will be that it comes with an Unlimited Data Guarantee for life.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, Google, Intel, Intel Capital, iOS, iOS 7, iPhone, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, Surface, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Amazon Refreshes Kindle Lineup-Meet the Kindle Fire HDX

September 25, 2013 by

hdx

Amazon has brought out its next generation Kindle Fires with new models that have greater resolution, faster processors and in one case the ability to hit a button and get help for issues that may be plaguing the tablet.

The company has also started to take the tablet battle into a new space — the enterprise — as it has added what it calls enterprise and productivity features as tablets are increasingly seen as replacements for PCs in the corporate environment.

The Kindle Fire HDX will be available in both a 7-inch and 8.9-inch model and are both powered by Qualcomm’s 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, which the company said was 3x faster than what powered its older models.

The company has also increased the pixels per inch to 2560 x 1600 on the 8.9-inch and reduced its weight 34% to 13.2 ounces while the 7-inch model has 1920 x 1200 resolution. The amount of RAM has been doubled to 2GB and they have a new graphics subsystem for faster gaming. There are a host of additional features including longer battery life and improved cameras.

An interesting feature is the “Mayday Button” that is in the Quick Settings. It calls up an Amazon expert on the device who can walk you through a feature or issue. This feature is available 24/7/365.

One area that the company has created a technology that will likely both further differentiate its products and help open new markets is its Fire OS 3.0 “Mojito” operating system that couples the Android operating system environment with Amazon-only features and cloud coverage.

Mojito may be a strong tool for the company to establish itself in the corporate environment where the “Bring your own device” (BYOD) mentality is becoming strongly entrenched. It has a number of features targeted directly at the enterprise including encryption, Kerberos support for intranet access, secure Wi-Fi, and a native VPN client, among other capabilities.

The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX starts at $379 for 8 GB of memory, while the 7-inch starts at $229 also with 8 GB. Buyers can pre-order starting Sept. 25. The 7-inch will ship Oct. 18, while the 8.9-inch will ship starting Nov. 7. There will also be new colored covers that will be available in seven shades and cost between $45 and $70.

Older models have seen their price cut as the new models come on line with entry-level 7-inch tablet, the Kindle Fire HD with 8GB, to $139 from a $199 version that had 16 GB model.

It will be interesting to see how these models compare with the forthcoming iPads from Apple, widely expected sometime next month. The drive for the corporate space could catch Apple unprepared, and it will be interesting to see what Apple’s message will be when it takes its turn on stage. The corporate push is also where Microsoft has been positioning its Surface Pro tablets for some time, and it just recently announced the latest generation platforms.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, iPad, Kindle, Samsung, Surface, Tablets, Wi-Fi, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , ,

Ruckus Scores Wi-Fi Deal for Soccer Stadiums in Brazil — But Will Wi-Fi be Missing in Action at Brazil’s 2014 World Cup?

September 24, 2013 by

The curious wording of a press release out today is making us wonder: Will in-stadium Wi-Fi be missing in action during the soccer World Cup next year in Brazil?

The thing that got us asking this question is the release today of news from Wi-Fi gear vendor Ruckus Wireless, which trumpets a deal for more than 360 Ruckus wireless access points, to be deployed in two of Brazil’s biggest soccer stadiums. But the release doesn’t mention the World Cup at all, and there is no date given for when the equipment may be installed.

While our guess (we are waiting for word back from Ruckus) is that there is some World Cup wireless rights deal that precludes supplying vendors like Ruckus from using the term “World Cup” in any announcements, the press release got us looking to see if any of the other stadiums that will be used in the month-long tourney already have or have plans to get Wi-Fi before the soccer starts. So far, we haven’t been able to find anything concrete that spells out whether or not Wi-Fi will be available at any of the 12 venues across Brazil. Our short history in covering this market tells us that if there isn’t a press release saying that Wi-Fi will be available, you can bet that it probably won’t be.

For the sake of the thousands of futbol fans who will no doubt be traveling to Brazil for the matches, we hope we’re wrong. But the best info we have found in a limited bit of Internet searching are a few articles from ZDNet’s Brazil Contributing Editor Angelica Mari. For the most part, the information seems to come from hopeful press releases, like this one about a plan for Sao Paulo to invest $22 million in a free Wi-Fi project, something Mari notes has been promised and not delivered many times before. In July Mari reported that the World Cup said it would have free Wi-Fi at all matches, but again, there were no specifics about deployments and her cautionary line, “But the actual ability of mobile providers to deliver is questionable,” should probably be taken as a pretty good warning that not all is well when it comes to Wi-Fi at the games.

For Ruckus, the deal to put wireless access points into two of Brazil’s biggest stadiums — the 71,000-seat National Stadium, also known as Estádio Nacional de Brasília, and Arena Octávio Mangabeira (also known as Arena Fonte Nova, depending on who you ask), a 50,433-seat facility in the city of Salvador — is another international win, and proof that Ruckus gear is passing the test when it comes to dense public facilities. But whether the gear be active in time for World Cup action is still unknown. UPDATE: Ruckus has confirmed that the gear is scheduled to be working by next June. Apparently we were also correct in assuming there is a rights deal that precludes the use of the term “World Cup” in any such announcements.

Unlike the London Olympics, which were amazingly the most un-wired games in history, the 2014 World Cup is looking like it might be a bit of a communications nightmare, given that local citizens like Mari routinely note that the country’s cellular infrastructure and services leave much to be desired.

Another possible scenario is that the Ruckus deal is just part of a bigger deal, where Ruckus would be one of several providers to the consortium of Latin America telecom providers (Claro, Oi, Telefónica, and TIM) who are in charge of World Cup communications. That might explain why a Ruckus release didn’t say World Cup, or mention other stadiums. Word on the street is that press announcements for World Cup infrastructure are being kept tight to the vest, so maybe we’ll hear more soon.

Filed Under: FIFA, Soccer, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

SeatAdvisor Seeks to Bring Secondary Ticket Sales Home

September 24, 2013 by

seat

A company named SeatAdvisor is seeking to take the pain out of secondary seat sales, a topic that can perplex and frustrate sports teams, by giving them greater control over the resell while also providing a level of security for fans buying the tickets.

To do this it has launched TicketResell, a technology that puts the primary source of the tickets, the sports team, in charge of reselling any that cannot be used at the last second, bringing control back to the team rather than to outside market forces.

Sports teams have a love/hate relationship with secondary ticket resellers. In some cases the resellers are offering tickets at significantly lower than official rates, because the games are either overpriced or not popular. That annoys teams. The NY Yankees battle with StubHub is a prime example of this issue.

Then there are the more basic ticket resellers, the ones that most fans are familiar with, people outside of stadiums with a wad of cash in one hand and a fan of possibly questionable tickets in the other, shouting out potential ‘deals’ and claiming that they have top seats.

TicketResell removes any middleman from the equation by providing fans that have extra tickets a secure avenue of reselling them. The fan simply establishes an account with the venue where the ticket was originally purchased. They then set a resell price and the tickets become available for new buyers. In addition fans reselling their tickets have the ability to tie the sales in to notices in social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to better alert friends of select ticket availability.

Pretty much any fan, or concert goer, has experienced the issue with someone dropping out at the last minute and it always seems that it is hard to get someone on short notice. This solves that issue as well as for the serial procrastinator who waits too long before an event is sold out- now tickets can become available at the last minute.

The company plans to debut the technology at the Breeders’ Cup World Championship taking place Nov. 1-2 at Santa Anita Park.

There seems to be a lot of opportunities for a technology like this, and while MLB and the NFL have been working to take ticket resale internally, there is a huge spectrum of sports that are still looking up at the 21st Century fan and wondering how to meet their needs.

A program like TicketResell should appeal to them and take the next step forward following the move made years ago by Craigslist that brought the online the ticket secondary market to the masses. TicketResell has the potential to add security to ease of purchase, something everyone can value. In addition since the ticket purchase is often the teams first contact with a fan, by ensuring that they know of the ability to resell their tickets via the team it helps strengthen the relationship between the two.

Filed Under: Apps, Basketball, Facebook, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA Football, NFL Tagged With: ,

Microsoft Brings Next Generation Surface Tablets to Market

September 23, 2013 by

mstab

Microsoft has taken the stage this morning in New York City to introduce its second generation tablets as the company maintains that with this launch they have changed the game in the tablet space with products that can also serve as desktop computers.

It has brought out refreshment offerings in place of its first generation Surface Pro and Surface RT, equipped with faster processors, additional accessories, better battery life and in one case a new branding and naming approach.

Up first was the Surface Pro 2 running an Intel Core i5 Haswell processor it comes with either 64GB or 128GB of storage with 4GB of RAM or in 256GB or 512GB storage with 8GB RAM. The company said that it has improved batter life by 2.5 x over previous generation and it has better speakers and an improved kickstand. It is now available for preorder with the Surface Pro 2 starting at $899.

The new Surface 2 is the second generation in the formerly named RT family. It is powered by an Nvidia Tegra processor and has a 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD display as does the Surface Pro 2. Both platforms have been upgraded to support USB 3.0 and the cameras have been improved with a 3.5MP front camera and a 5MP rear camera. The Surface 2 will be available in 32GB and 64GB versions with an entry level price of $449.

Microsoft has reached the 100,000 app level for its tablets and also now ships them with the full Office Suite including Outlook. The company said that the first generation’s sales far exceeded expectations and was one of the best selling devices in the company’s history.

There are new covers for the tablets as well starting with the Touch Cover 2, which is now backlit and has the ability to turn on the lighting as you start to type and off after you are done. It has a $119.99 price tag while the Type 2 Cover is a more ridge device that is also backlit and comes in a range of colors including Cyan, Magenta, Purple and Black. It has a $129.99 list.

In its drive to make its tablets ubiquitous in both home and business Microsoft has a new docking station that it said will convert the tablet into a desktop PC. The docking station can connect with an external monitor, Ethernet, speakers and power supply. PC peripherals connect via its one USB 3.0 port and three USB 2.0 ports.

The Docking Station for Surface Pro will have an estimated retail price of $199.99 and has a projected release date of early 2014. Microsoft will start taking orders for the new tablets tomorrow and they are expected to ship Oct 22, 2013.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Microsoft, Surface, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: iPhone 5S Security, Office for Android?

September 20, 2013 by

Monster, probably best known for its high quality audio technology, has moved into the tablet space with a colorful set of offerings in both the 7-inch and 10.1-inch form factors, the Monster M7 and the Monster M10.

The M7 will be the first available and the company said that it will start at $149 at Walmart. While Apple made a good deal of noise with its iPhones now available in several colors, Monster has gone one better and will offer the M7 in eight colors: Candy Blueberry, Candy Tangerine Orange, Candy Grape Purple, Candy Apple Red, Candy Lime Green, Cotton Candy Pink, Frost White and Midnight Black.

Apple Press Event for Oct. 15
There were a number of hardware products that had been rumored to be on the plate earlier this month when Apple introduced its new iPhones and iOS 7 operating system that did not see the light of day, and now the rumor is that they will be unveiled on Oct. 15.

Among the expected products are completely redesigned versions of the iPad and iPad Mini as well as the company refreshing both its computer offerings with new Macintoshes and the latest and greatest in Apple TV, something that seems to be rumored every six months.

A side by side look at Pebble vs. Samsung Galaxy Gear
Now that there is more than one smartwatch on the market consumers will want to make comparisons on the features and capabilities of the varied offerings in order to make an informed decision so that they do not end up with unmet expectations.

Gizmag has gone to the trouble of doing that with two of the first offerings in this space: Kickstarter hero Pebble and Samsung’s Galaxy Gear. The basic breakdown is Samsung=advanced, Pebble=basic. But then it all depends on what you need and how you will use it.

Good news on iPhone 5S security
One of the new features that will be included in the iPhone 5S, due today, is that it has a fingerprint sensor. First off this will make it easier to access the phone and secondly it should serve as a deterrent to thieves who will not be able to use and sell the phone.

Of course people have started to look at workarounds, including a child using their sleeping parents’ finger to open access. But one method will not work; according to the good people at Slash Gear, a severed finger will not be able to unlock the phone. Phew!

Microsoft Office to the iPad/Android?
Microsoft’s departing CEO Steve Ballmer has implied that the company has a version of Microsoft Office in the works that will operate on Apple’s iOS iPad as well as on tablets that run the Android operating system.

He did not come right out and say that it was a done deal but according to IT World Ballmer listed porting popular Microsoft products to non-Microsoft platforms was a potential growth area for the company going forward.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, iOS, iPad, Microsoft, Samsung, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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