Baseball Adds Instagram to its Team

July 19, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Major League Baseball is teaming with Instagram to show photos and images that come directly from the teams, enabling fans that are not at events to get a feel for the game, players and fans in attendance.

The concept is very simple but can be very compelling as well. Using @MLBOfficial as its tag line MLB teams will be posting photos from their games as well as behind the scenes images for others to view. Instagram says that MLB is the first professional league to do so.

Currently the teams that are already on board for the program include: SF Giants (@sfgiants), NY Yankees (@yankees), LA Dodgers (@dodgers) Atlanta Braves (@braves), Texas Rangers (@rangers), Seattle Mariners (@seattlemariners), LA Angels (@angels), and the Kansas City Royals (@kcroyals). Instagram said that eventually all MLB teams will be launching accounts.

A quick look over at the SF Giants official account finds that there are 339 photos and 41,530 followers. Note that you have to be an Instagram user to view the images at its site. However a quick visit to the Giants site can give you fan photos.

In the past a huge number of fans of teams have posted images of their teams and players. According to a recent piece in Mashable there had been a 400% increase in Instagram photo postings from major league ball parks compared to the entire 2011 season, with more than 40,000 posted at the time of the piece.

We have long thought that MLB was an organization that appears to really understand how to reach out to fans at multiple levels. It has developed mobile apps to enable you to follow games on mobile devices, is creating high grade stadium wireless networks and constantly launches games and contests to keep fans engaged.

I suspect that this will both help draw more fans to the site to view baseball pictures and also contribute additional images to the mix. I certainly hope that other pro and amateur sports follow this lead because they have the ability to get images that regular fans will not.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, Facebook, Instagram, iOS, Los ANgeles Angeles of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers Tagged With: Instagram, MLB

Watching Golf this Week: The Open Championship, aka The British Open

July 19, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Are you ready for the third major of the year? It all kicks off Thursday morning at one of the stranger-named courses, Royal Lytham & St. Annes (not St. Anne’s), which its own website describes as “It is not a conventionally beautiful golf course, surrounded as it is by suburban housing and flanked by a railway line, but it has a charm all of its own.” Never you mind. This is the British Open, aka The Open Championship, and it’s all about history. With Champions at the course named Seve. Tom Lehman, Gary Player, and most recently, David Duval in 2001.

And best of all, golf when you wake up in the morning here in the U.S.! If you want to watch the Open Championship this weekend you best have a cable subscription with ESPN (and really, who doesn’t in the sports world). If you want to watch online or on your mobile device, you need a cable sub with the WatchESPN qualifying carriers: Verizon FiOS, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Comcast. This tourney is four days of wall to wall ESPN coverage, including ESPN radio, probably a bunch of SportsCenter from the Open broadcasts… starting at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, to catch all of Tiger and Phil, who are going out early.

And who will win it? Odds on favorite is, of course, the man who would be back: Tiger Woods. If he plays all four days like he played the first two days at Olympic, Tiger will be tough to beat — he’s even been seen working on his infamous “stinger” shots. Lurking in the gorse is Phil Mickelson, who is way overdue overseas — and had himself a few nice sub-70 rounds at the Scottish Open last weekend as a tuneup.

What about the local lads — guys like Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, who reign atop the world standings but have zero majors between them? Of the two I like Westwood’s chances since he always seems to be in it at the end, while Donald tends to disappear. Maybe like Darren Clarke last year, this is Westwood’s time. As a dark horse I like a guy who I saw live for the first time at the U.S. Open, and marveled at the style of his swing: Former British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen. Go join the MSR group on the ESPN fantasy golf game if you want to show your own picking savvy.

In case the Open isn’t enough golf, there is also a PGA Tour event this week, the incredibly ignored True South Classic in Madison, Mississippi, as well as the fun-to-watch American Century Classic from Lake Tahoe, where celebs and athletes from other sports show off their golf prowess, or lack thereof (see Barkley, Charles). We will include TV times for those tournaments as well, below.

Our final pick? We say Tiger gets off the major schneid. Here’s where to follow the action:

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSIP

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Thursday, July 19 — ESPN, 4:30 a.m. — 3 p.m.
Friday, July 20 — ESPN, 4:30 a.m. — 3 p.m.
Saturday, July 21 — ESPN, 7 a.m. — 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 22 — ESPN, 8 a.m. — 1 p.m.

RADIO
ESPN RADIO (check local channels)
Thursday, July 19 — 7 a.m. — 1 p.m.
Friday, July 20 — 7 a.m. — 1 p.m.
Saturday, July 21 — ESPN, 9 a.m. — 3 p.m.
Sunday, July 22 — ESPN, 8 a.m. — 12 p.m.

Radio broadcasts will also be available through the Open app, at TheOpen.com, and at
ESPNRadio.com.

ONLINE
This is long, but worth it… what follows is the entire ESPN lineup of content from The Open:

The Open Championship on ESPN Digital Platforms
WatchESPN
All Open Championship programming on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3 is also available on computers, smartphones and tablets through WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app, which are accessible to fans who receive their video service from affiliated providers Bright House Networks, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon FiOS TV.

ESPN.com
News, blogs and columns from ESPN.com national columnist Gene Wojciechowski and senior golf writers Farrell Evans and Bob Harig.
“Digital Drive,” an exclusive ESPN.com program hosted by ESPN the Magazine columnist Rick Reilly, will be produced each day.
“CoverItLive” live chat with Michael Collins throughout the championship.
“Red Light/Green Light” with Collins each day, examining pin placements on selected holes.
The ESPN Golf Cast application, which offers an easy-to-use interface with scoring, “CoverItLive,” video and social media elements.
Best Ball Majors, the latest installment of the ESPN Best Ball Challenge.
Interactive leaderboards and live scores.
Extensive video content, including highlights, analysis, clips from SportsCenter and press conferences.
Photo galleries, podcasts, live chats, SportsNation polling.
Mobile WAP site.
Spanish-language highlights and coverage on ESPNDeportes.com.

ESPN3
ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network will carry ESPN’s telecast of all four rounds of The Open Championship. An additional feed will have live coverage of the 1st & 18th Holes, plus player interviews from the practice range, highlights and features. Trey Wingo and Jim Kelly will share the host role, with analysts Jane Crafter and Kim Thomas and reporter Mark Donaldson. Former Open Championship winner David Duval, who is competing in the event, also will serve as an analyst while not on the course.
ESPN3 also will have a Spanish-language feed with ESPN Deportes golf announcers Francisco Aleman and former LPGA pro Silvia Bertolaccini as well as the International View from the BBC/World coverage and alternating coverage of holes 8, 9 and 10.

ESPN Mobile
Live mobile video simulcasts of ESPN’s Open Championship telecasts on Thursday-Sunday will appear on ESPN Mobile TV. The Best of The Open Championship programs for the first, third and final rounds and Thursday’s The Open Championship Today programs also will be simulcast.
News, highlights and a leaderboard will appear on the ESPN mobile Web and there will be Open Championship Insider content, news and columns, scoring alerts for top players and video shot packs for select golfers.

PGA SHOT TRACKER
No Shot Tracker at the British Open, but it will be online for the True South Classic.

FACEBOOK PAGE
Get yourself close to the Claret Jug at The Open’s Facebook page.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
The Open’s own Twitter feed.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer. If you’re not following Geoff you are missing the online boat.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend. You may also catch her video reporting debut this weekend. Go Stephanie!
Doug Ferguson is the lead golf writer for AP. Good Twitter insights that often aren’t part of your wire-service lead.

TOURNAMENT APP
Powered by video mavens at Ooyala, the Open’s App has everything you want in a handheld device app. iPad, iPhone and Android. You will still need the ESPN contract to view live video, though.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
The Royal Lytham & St. Annes has its own website, and there is good stuff on the PGA site as well.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Darren Clarke.

WHY IS IT CALLED LYTHAM & ST. ANNES?
Because the two towns of Lytham and St. Annes-on-the-Sea grew together and formed one seaside resort. And they dropped the “sea” bit. According to Wikipedia.

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Tiger Woods, 1,952 points
2. Zach Johnson, 1,920
3. Jason Dufner, 1,849
4. Hunter Mahan, 1,654
5. Bubba Watson, 1,617

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Luke Donald; 2. Rory McIlroy; 3. Lee Westwood; 4. Tiger Woods; 5. Webb Simpson.
See the official World Golf Ranking list.

TRUE SOUTH CLASSIC TV
Thursday, July 19 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, July 20 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, July 21 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, July 22 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

AMERICAN CENTURY CLASSIC TV
Saturday, July 21 — NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, July 22 — NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, British Open, ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN3, Facebook, Golf, Golf Channel, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, PGA, Tiger Woods, Time Warner Cable Television, Twitter, Verizon Wireless, WatchESPN, WatchESPN Tagged With: British Open, David Duval, ESPN, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, PGA, Phil Mickelson, Royal Lytham & St. Annes, The Open Championship, Tiger Woods

Augmented Sports App Helps Celebrate Start of French Soccer Season

July 18, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

GoldRun and Front Row Marketing Services have teamed with The Ligue de Football Professionnel to create an app that enables fans to create uploadable images of themselves and the Trophee Des Champions that is awarded to the winner of an annual grudge match.

The Trophee Des Champions is the award given to the winner of the annual match between the Ligue 1 champion and the winner of the Copue de France. In one format or another it has been played since 1949 and in its current mode since 1995. The match marks the beginning of the French soccer season.

While it might seem a bit odd that the match opening the season would be played on a foreign shore, the purpose is to help promote French soccer and it has been played in Montreal and Tunis, Tunisia in the past.

The app is not just so that fans can download images of the trophy and then share with their fans, it is a contest in which the winners will get a VIP paid trip to see the match between the two champions at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. on July 28, 2012.

The contest is pretty simply to play as long as you participate in social media. A user downloads the GoldRun app that is available for both Android and Apple’s iPhone, and then they need to open the app and then sign in using either Twitter or Facebook.

From there the process is pretty simple, select the Trophée des Champions “photobooth” from
either the featured carousel or campaigns list and then follow the instructions. Once you create your image then share via Facebook, Twitter or email. Sharing enables you to actually enter the contest.

GoldRun is a mobile app that enables the superimposing of a computer generated image with one from a smartphone camera. The app has been used in a variety of contests designed to promote brands including Ice Age: Continental Drift and New York Giants Virtual Super Bowl Ring.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Contests, Soccer, The Ligue de Football Professionnel Tagged With: Soccer

Ooyala, R&A Team up for British Open App — But You Still Need a Cable Contract to Watch Live Golf

July 17, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Though we originally got excited here at MSR when we heard that the British Open’s app might feature another way to get live video of the event, as we expected, there is no getting around the need for a qualifying ESPN cable contract to watch the British Open via a mobile platform. As we said earlier today, this is ESPN’s baby and they are not going to let someone else end-run their mobile video strategy.

The British Open app, built by the video-services folks at Ooyala and the R&A, does have some neat stuff in it, highlights on demand and a live fly by of the course. What threw us off was the app store screen shot (see left) that shows a button for live video. But upon further review the live video link from the app merely redirects you to the WatchESPN app — for which you need a contract with Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS, Bright House Networks or Comcast to access the online content.

So — the app may be less useful than it originally appeared, especially if you don’t have a cable contract. According to Ooyala the app is available for Android phones, iPhones and iPads.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, British Open, Golf, iOS Tagged With: Android, Apps, British Open, Golf, iPad, iPhone, Mobile Sports Report, ooyala, Paul Kapustka, R&A

Velocomp’s iBike Powerhouse System Hits Market

July 17, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Velocomp has delivered its iBike Powerhouse to the market just in time to train another generation of Tour de France hopefuls along with the much more likely crowd of weekend riders looking to step up their game.

The iBike Powerhouse is a portable computerized cycling fitness system that runs on either an iPod Touch or an iPhone and is designed to adjust automatically to an individual user’s exercise goals.

The system features power measurement and analysis technologies and features that monitor your efforts and provide feedback and updates that are automatically-adjusted based on a number of goal-oriented cycling plans that the company provides.

A user simply selects from any of the four to six week goal-based programs that the application features and it will set up a program that is designed to help you reach your goals with a series of rides that vary between 45-90 minutes long.

The plans, which include programs such as “iSlim, ”“CycleMax,”“ Express Fitness, ”“Brazilian Butt,”“ Weekend Warrior, ”and“ Zero to 20 miles also, allow a user to set their skill level so that a couch potato and a potential racer do not have to follow the same regime. Included in the information and feedback for each program are videos from cycling coach Hunter Allen that provide tips on overall cycling and how to improve your performance.

The iBike Powerhouse comes with a water/shock resistant case, a set of electronics for your bike that register your cycling performance and a wireless speed sensor. A handle bar mounting system also ships with the app so that a user can clearly see what is required for the current workout session. The iBike Powerhouse kit has a MSRP of $279 and comes with two workout programs, iSlim and CycleMax while additional programs are available for $9.99

Sports feedback is a very competitive field, with players from Nike, Garmin to all of Ant +’s customers and many in between trying to grab a piece of the market. Velocomp has a well rounded offering that has gained critical acclaim and should be able to carve out a nice niche for itself.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Cycling, Garmin, iBike, iOS, Nike, Outdoor Activities Tagged With: iBike, Velocomp

Facebook Gains Mobile Development Team with Spool Deal

July 16, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Facebook has gained the development team, but not the technology or assets of startup Spool, a mobile app developer that has in the past created programs for both the Android and Apple iOS operating systems.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed but on its blog Spool announced that it was now becoming part of Facebook and that it was shutting down its site and provided instructions on how to move off of Spool.

The company had only come out of beta late last year and started 2012 off by raising $1 million from a number of angle investors that included SVAngle, Felicis Ventures, Start Fund, Stephen Chen, Bill Lohse and Charles River Ventures. Its apps enable users to bookmark Internet content, including video, for later reading both on and off line.

The move is part of a growing trend from Facebook, and others, to purchase companies more for their design teams and capabilities than their actual products. Some of the recent deals from Facebook include Face.com and Glancee. Google has recently purchased Quickoffice and Meebo.

For Facebook the recent deals all appear to be centered on enhancing its mobile technologies, an area that it has admitted it is having issues in monetizing. Facebook has said that Spool’s team will help develop building tools to facilitate consumption of mobile content.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, Google, iOS, Meebo, QuickOffice, Spool, Startup, Venture Capital Tagged With: Apps, Facebook, Google, Spool