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What’s a Picture Worth? To Facebook, $1 Billion as it Buys Instagram

April 9, 2012 by

Social media powerhouse Facebook has purchased Instagram in a combination cash and stock deal that is valued at $1 billion. Instagram is a photo sharing site that permits users to share photos with their friends.

While some have seen Instagram as a potential rival to Facebook and others just a flash in the pan the deal is the biggest in Facebook’s history by a large margin and will help expand its already enormous reach in the social media space.

Instagram had been only available on Apple’s iPhones until just last week when the platform moved to the Android platform where it was greeted with a tremendous rush of downloads and usage by an entire new group of users.

Facebook made it clear to customers wondering if it would just assimilate the company that the answer was no, but that it would use some of its technology in Facebook going forward. Instagram is expected to continue to operate, and develop, as an independent company.

I wonder if this will really add that much to the Facebook empire. When Yahoo was still a high flying company back in 1999 it purchased one of the most popular Internet portal sites, GeoCities, for $3.6 billion in a deal what looked like it would greatly enhance Yahoo’s position as a portal site. You may well as ask what is a portal site now.

A user can already post a photo pretty easily to Facebook, maybe not with the bells and whistles that come with Instagram but still pretty quickly. Now with some f those bells & whistles incorporated into Facebook, will there be a need for an independent Instagram in the long run? I bet no.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, Yahoo Tagged With: , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Padfone Tablet Near?

April 9, 2012 by

Microsoft obviously realizes two major hurdles exist in front of its push to get its Windows Phone to become an established, viable player in the smartphone space. It is way behind in the app space, and it needs apps to succeed.

So it is doing what you would expect from a company that has the vast resources of Microsoft, it is launching a variety of efforts to get developers to commit to creating apps for the platform, including paying them for the work, according to The New York Times.

The software company has a number of incentives that range from funding the development of apps, prime placement in its app store, free equipment and others. The company has also established a major app development effort with Nokia.

Problems pile up for Motorola- could this kill the merger?
First off it is investigating Motorola Mobility in two separate for using legal injunctions against Apple and Microsoft to gain an edge in the market. This investigation is rooted in complaints that both companies filed against Motorola.

Part of the question that the EU will look at is did Motorola break promises with standards setting organizations and if it offered unfair licensing conditions for its standard-essential patents. Fines for this violation can be substantial.

Then there is an apparent demand for $4 billion dollars annually as royalty payments made by Motorola to Microsoft to use its patents in the Xbox that is being heard in a US court. Microsoft is retaliating by asking a judge to block the importation of Motorola phones due to patent violations.

The net result of these and China’s delaying in giving regulatory approval to the deal is that Motorola investors are getting nervous, according to the Business Insider. Shares have been dropping in the past weeks due to the delays. However in a note on Google’s Investor Page, CEO Larry Page has a long note that mentions the Motorola deal in very positive terms and that he has great expectations for the deal.

Asus taking Padfone preorders
Asus is now taking orders for its hybrid table called the Padfone. The device has two main components. The first is smartphone that is powered by a a Snapdragon S4 dual core 1.5GHz processor running the latest version of the Android operating system, v. 4.0

Then there is a 10-inch tablet that has a docking bay for the phone, with the phones processor running the tablet. I will be very interested to see how this works because a user could then leverage their cell phone data plan on the tablet, and so not need two plans. Pricing and delivery date have not yet been announced although it is expected later this month.

Samsung’s Galaxy Notes hits 5 million in sales
When I saw the Galaxy Note at CES I was sure it would not be a winner. It was kind of a jackalope, neither a phone nor a tablet, and too big for one purpose and too small for the other IMHO. This wisdom is why I am not rich. The company, which had a record breaking quarter, sold 5 million of the devices.

Now some might point out that Apple sold 3 million of its new iPads in just three days, and that is all good and true. But this is not the only arrow in Samsung’s quiver, and the company has a range of tablets, and smartphones available. Its creative thinking looks to make it a true force to be dealt with in both market segments.

Tablet and smartphone owners multitask with TV
One of the latest news reports from Nielsen shows that globally 88% of tablet owners and 86% of smartphone owners said that they used their device at least once in a 30 day period while watching television.

In the United States 26% said that they used their tablet multiple times a day when watching television and 27% said that they did so with their smartphones. Those numbers were roughly double that of those who said that they never did.

The top purpose was to view e-mail, both during the actual broadcasts and during the commercial breaks. A popular alternative was to check out information related to ether the program, or good news for advertisers, looking up information on products shown during commercial breaks.

Apple closing on facial recognition software?
A new patent that Apple as filed for shows that the company is developing features that will enable control of an iOS device via facial recognition. The patent lists a method to create an automatic user-switching system which can lock, unlock, as well as reconfigure a device for users based on face detection using a front-facing camera.

As discussed in Ars technica the patent, “Electronic Device Operation Adjustment Based On Face Detection” it has the ability to lock out unauthorized users as well as be set for specific preferences. There is already a facial unlock feature on the Android side in v. 4.0.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, Google, iPad, iPhone, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Motorola, Samsung, Tablets, The New York Times, Uncategorized

Is Masters Online Coverage Feeling the Pressure?

April 7, 2012 by

Tiger in the creek at #13

Don’t know if this is a widespread thing or if it’s only affecting me but I would have to say that through 2 and a half rounds the online coverage of the Masters this year is playing about as well as Tiger Woods. Meaning that when it’s on, the online coverage is world class. But so far this year like el Tigre there’s been a lot of bad to go with the good.

The problem I am seeing most is just stuttering load times — for no reason the screen will just stop and you get the feared white line circling around the logo, the Masters online equivalent of the old Windows hourglass or the Mac spinning rainbow. And when the live coverage does come on there seems to be a long wait for the pixelation to go away. I have also seen on several occasions a Matrix-like instant repeat, a replay of the scene shown just seconds before. Once it got so bad (5-6 times in a row) I had to shut down the app and start over.

(Just for reference I have been watching mainly the Masters.com service online. Went to the CBSSports.com window a few times but saw some similar problems there. Also think the Masters.com design is a better feel.)

Before you tell me this is just my setup, rest assured I have done all the home-fix things I can, closing and clearing the browser cache, resetting the router and the cable modem, and the problems are persisting. And I am on a Comcast Internet connection that just tested out at 35 Mbps download so it ain’t the ISP. We’ve asked the folks at IBM if they are having any problems but my guess is that we’re not going to hear anything from them so if you are having similar issues let us know in the comments below.

I also tested out the Android app, which is new this year, during a trip to the doctor’s office yesterday. While I was generally pleased with the service (I mean it’s pretty damn amazing to be sitting there watching live golf on your phone, right?) I did notice that the app kept telling me (every few minutes) that the “this video not optimized for mobile.” Exsqueeze me? If it’s not optimized for mobile what’s it doing on my phone?

So… watching Tiger trying to get back into the tourney it looks like he is playing solidly but not amazing anyone. I’d have to give a similar grade to the online coverage this year, though with a note that the Masters online is by far the most ambitious digital coverage of any major sporting event, hands down. Like the Masters, this stuff ain’t easy.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, CBS Sports, iPad, iPhone, PGA, The Masters, Tiger Woods Tagged With: , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Intel Launches Major Ultrabook Campaign

April 6, 2012 by


Intel is launching its biggest marketing campaign in over a decade with what it calls a multi-faceted global push for the “New Era of Computing”. The company will be on the television, in the print media and using a variety of social media driven efforts to get and hopefully hold consumer and corporate attention to these ultra-slim notebooks.

This is not surprising first after CEO Paul Otellini’s keynote at CES earlier this year had so much emphasis on the notebooks. Second, and this is something that seems to have to some degree gotten by (at least me) under the radar. There are already 26 models available for purchase worldwide including offerings from Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell with additional 10 models from Acer, Fujitsu, Gigabyte and Lenovo having been announced.

Next week is the start of corporate earning reports and I will be very interested to hear what Intel executives say about the sales of notebook computers as well as how its effort to establish itself in the tablet space are going.

Recently Apple talked about the death of the PC but really what are you going to use to write the apps for the iPhones and iPads? I kid, I think that the desktop PC may become a dinosaur but notebooks will have a strong demand from a large segment of the corporate and consumer market.


Is Tiger Woods the true #1?
Or at least so says Rory McIlroy, currently the #2 ranked golfer in the rankings. He said that if Woods is on his game he is the best golfer in the world, adding that you cannot judge a player on how they have performed in the last few weeks. If we go by that it really does not look too good for Tiger, but then this is a nice change from the usual trash talk that happens in sports. This weekend could also change his opinion.

iPhone to reach regional carriers later this month?
Apple Insider is reporting that five regional U.S. carriers are going to announce that they will begin selling Apple’s popular iPhone on April 20. The carriers are Alaskan Communications, Appalachian Wireless, GCI, Cellcom and nTelos.

The report also states that the carriers will for $50 less than the so-far subsidized price at other carriers, with phones starting at $150 for the 16GB model, $250 for 32GB, and $350 for 64GB. The older iPhone 4 will be available in an 8GB version for $50.

Samsung and Apple hurting HTC sales?
Smartphone developer HTC has reported a 70% drop in profits while revenue dropped 35% from the same quarter in the previous year. The company has recently expanded its offerings with four additional smartphones, all running the Android operating system.

At the same time Samsung has reported record quarterly profits of $5.15 billion, with very strong results pulled in by both its smartphone business and its Galaxy Note hybrid tablet/smartphone products.

Is Google really losing billions on Android?
A piece at Yahoo.com argues that the company is and that it is because of a number of reasons, however I found it rather unconvincing. With 300 million Android phones out on the market and 15 million tablets the company has a huge installed base and seems poised for huge additional growth.

NBA to sell ads on jerseys?
Over at HoopsHype the bet is that the NBA will very soon have ads on players game jerseys. It makes a persuasive argument about how, among otrher things. MLB is a business and it just does not make sense to leave money on the table.

Baseball has twice, to my knowledge, played a series with ads on its uniforms. Both were in Japan and so not seen by most American fans. It seems inevitable that ads do come to that space and as the article points out, the Dallas Mavericks came out with ads on their uniforms in 2009.

I think it will be interesting to see what types of rules the league, and others when they follow, will set for who is acceptable and who is not. Can Hooters advertise? Alcohol? I am pretty sure tobacco companies need not apply.

Joe Posnanski departs SI
While a bit late on this but for fans of Joe Posnanski, his work at this weekend’s Masters Tournament will be his last for Sports Illustrated as he is leaving to join the growing USA Today/MLB Advanced Media joint venture.

If you are not familiar with him, you should give him a try. I feel that he is one of the best sports writers around, offering solid information backed by facts, all with a good dash of humor. He was at SI for roughly three years and he will be hard to replace.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, HoopsHype, HTC, iPad, iPhone, Major League Baseball, NBA, Samsung, Smartphone, Sports Illustrated, The Big Lead Tagged With: , , , , ,

Google Glasses a boon to Sports Fans and Bettors?

April 5, 2012 by

Google has publicly displayed its Google Glasses, officially called Project Glass following several months of rumors about the technology and what the company intends to use it for. The answer to that question is that the Android powered spectacles are to be used for augmented reality, the company has said.

If you are like me that term really does not mean much on its own but the basic purpose of the glasses is to give users access to information via superimposed graphics without needing to stop whatever activity you are engaged in. Say projecting a map to a destination on the glasses while driving.

The advantage of this is pretty obvious, no need to stop and look at your phone, a map, or the person next you saying turn left while pointing right. The danger is just as obvious; you take your mind off the task at hand and become too intent on the displayed info.

The company is not really saying too much about what they will do in detail, when they will be available, how they will operate and a host of other pieces of information that would be interesting. There is a posted video that shows people chatting via the devices as well as doing a number of other tasks while wearing the glasses.

But think of it in context of a sports fan. You are at a basketball game you can look up the history of the two teams, the high school and college stats of the stars and both coaches’ win/loss records, all without missing a second of the action. It might even be able to explain the rules of cricket to you while watching a test match, but that might be asking too much.

Or imagine you are in a sports book at a casino you can get real time information on weather, injuries, and a host of other factors that might influence your actions. Wait, casinos get that information as fast as anybody else you say. Well twitter seems to be beating news services on a range of breaking news, and the minutes or second lead time that you gain could make a difference.

Still who knows if and when they will be made available? Over a decade ago I saw a very similar technology demonstrated at IBM’s labs in San Jose, with a full version of Windows appearing in the glasses, and as far as I know nothing ever came of this. Then again maybe all spies now wear glasses.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Google, Social Media, Sports Betting Tagged With:

Look to Mobile Apps to Stay Competitive in Fantasy Baseball

April 3, 2012 by

With the second start to this year’s MLB season, and I am still not sure what the league gained by starting last week in Japan followed by a long layoff, all fantasy teams should be in place for the long haul to October greatness.

However the fact that the draft is completed means that only the first step is finished, and then comes the monitoring of teams and players, keeping a hawk eye not only on the waiver wire and the injury report, but also how your own roster is performing so that gaps and shortcomings in a lineup can be repaired quickly and efficiently.

I still know one or two people that primarily use one source for all of their information, but with the growing number of sites that are available it makes sense to have multiple sources for data, and to have an app or two loaded in your smartphone or tablet so that you can react instantly.

Most of these are available on both Android and Apple’s iOS. One or two are available on a BlackBerry and I did not find any that specified Windows Phone, although I imagine that will change in a year.

These are in no particular order and with that we will start with Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball ’12. Many fans are familiar with this free app and a few new features have been added including Facebook and Google logins as well as features such as real time score updates and player stats.

Another I am sure most are very familiar with is ESPN’s free Fantasy Baseball app, although when you say free there is a pay option of sorts. The basic app gives you team management, the ability to accept or reject trades from other managers and a host of news, tweets and video from ESPN’s Fantasy Baseball analysts.

If you are an ESPN Insider, or want to join for the extra features you also get push notifications when players are benched or are send to the DL. It also has exclusive video and news from the ESPN team. For those looking towards next year it is good to remember that it also has Spring Training notes so get the app early. A user must have an ESPN Fantasy Baseball team.

Fox Sports is not about to be left out in the cold on this and has a new version of Fox Fantasy Baseball. It allows you to join an established Fox league or form a private one with customizable rules and offers a variety of scoring systems including rotisserie and head-to-head.

The app allows a great deal of league customization with leagues ranging from four to 20 teams and a variety of draft, trading, and score keeping options available.

CBSSports.Com has its Fantasy Baseball app that has three different main settings. For the casual fan or those new to a fantasy league there is a setting for you, and you can organize a league or enter into an established one.

At the second level, called Premium Games, a player can win up to $3,500. This has four levels of participation, in part determined by the fan’s experience and the entry fee that they wish to pay, with fee’s for a first team ranging from $29.99 for the $150 prize to $499.99 for the $3,500 prize. Cash prizes awarded to the winner of each ten team league.

For the experienced that want a customized experience there is the Commissioner- where you can set customized rules for the league, rosters draft format and a variety of other features. CBSSports offers a range of apps that will work with the league.

We have already covered Bloomberg Sports Front Office 2012 here so all I will say is that it is a very full featured app that covers a wide range of areas that fans would want or need information about players or teams.

For those that are late or waiting until the first week of the season to hold their draft there is GlassWareMobile’s Fantasy Baseball Draft Wizard for Android. While not specifically for stat heads it helps to understand simple terms such as VORP. It provides three years of stats for players and gives dynamic adjustments to players’ value in real time.

Roto Sports RotoWire Fantasy Draft Kit 2012 is another place to go for the draft information that you need. You enter your league parameters and it will generate a draft either based on player rankings or dollar vaue. It contains 2012 projectsions for over 1,000 players and continuously updates them

Interested in tracking minor league players in case you are in a league that allows September call-ups to count? Try MiLB.Com Triple-A 2012. No video on the $4.99 app but it has pitch by pitch tracking for the International and Pacific Coast League teams as well as standings schedules and other information.

For those that do not bother tracking minor league players you do not know what you are missing. I love how some guy in a windswept PCL team will come to the majors with gaudy numbers that just do not translate well the MLB parks and pitching. This is a way to stay ahead, especially if your league requires a rookie each year.

There is just about something for everybody here, aside from operating system limitations. Most but not all are free, a positive price in my mind, and deliver and increasing array of information to fans. I would be interested to hear any pros or cons on these apps from any users out there.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, Bloomberg Sports, CBS Sports, ESPN, Fantasy Baseball, Fox Sports, Google, iPhone, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, RotoWire, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: ,
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