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Golf GameBook Launches USA vs Europe Competition

July 11, 2012 by

Golfers are very competitive people- not a news flash I know, and Golf GameBook is seeking to leverage that, along with nationalistic pride, in its latest contest that is a virtual Ryder Cup in which any registered user can participate.

I guess I should have said any American or European registered user since the event is a mobile version of the Ryder Cup, at least in terms of the geographic roots of the players. However rather than a one week event this one, called The GameBook Cup: USA vs Europe, will take six weeks.

Starting on July 30, 2012 and concluding on September 9, 2012 the contest will allow participants to compete on a wide variety of categories that will have five different ones, one each week with the one in the first week being most birdies. Each week new categories will be revealed and weekly prizes will be drawn among the winning continent’s golfers who participated in the Cup.

For the last week there will all five of the previous categories to compete in, and the side that wins that week will win the Cup. Despite the geographic requirement of the continent of origin for the players, any golf course around the globe can be played in the competition.

To play you need the company’s app, which is available for both Android and iPhones. Rounds are automatically after completion when using the app. For those of you that are interested in the real Ryder Cup, it will be played at Medinah Country Club, Medinah, Ill., September 25-30, 2012. Team USA has British Open Champion Stewart Cink as the Captain, and Team Europe is led by European Tour golfer Johan Edfors.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Golf, Golf GameBook, iOS Tagged With:

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Top 5 Tablets, Nexus Components Breakdown = $184

July 9, 2012 by

Google is now asking for $4 million from Oracle to cover Google’s legal expenses it incurred during its recent copyright and patent infringement battle. According to a piece in Wired, Google claims that since it prevailed on the majority of issues it is entitled to recovery costs.

It has not made public an individual breakdown of the bill but it includes $2.9 million for the copying and organization of the 97 million documents used in the case. Oracle has already said that it will appeal the case.

Google Nexus component costs = $184
A teardown on the recently announced Google Nexus 7 appears to show that the company is basically selling the device at cost, something that is also believed to be true of its rival Amazon’s Kindle Fire. According to research done by Tech Insights a list of the components are available.

From the list it appears that a $199 version of the device would have a cost of $184, leaving the company a whopping $15 profit, as long as there was no shipping and handling charges for it. It looks like the razor/razor blade model is alive and well.

Top 5 Tablet companies
Google entered the tablet space to a great deal of fanfare last month when it introduced its Nexus 7, a 7-inch tablet that is being manufactured by AsusTek. Yet as even the most casual observer notes, Apple continues to dominate this space and new players are expected to enter with the expected onslaught on Windows 8-powered tablets including Microsoft’s Surface tablet will also be available, greatly increasing the level of competition in this space.

According to market research firm HIS iSuppli, as reported by the Ventura County Star, last year Apple owned 62% of the market with 40.5 million iPads sold.
2) Samsung 9% 6.1 million Galaxy’s sold
3) Amazon 6% 3.9 million Kindles
4) Barnes & Noble 5% 3.3 million Nooks
5) AsusTek 3% 2.1 million Transformers
• Other, 9.4 million, 14 percent

Samsung to offer Windows RT Tablet in fall?
Samsung is reportedly preparing a tablet that will run Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows RT software, a version of Windows 8 that is designed to operate on devices powered by the ARM processors that current dominate in the Android space.

Samsung had previously said that it would support the Windows 8 Pro that is designed to run on chips from Intel and AMD. Rival Hewlett-Packard has said that it will support Windows 8 Pro but was unclear if and when it would also support RT.

Facebook in new mobile ad push
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Facebook is addressing one of its perceived weaknesses, the lack of mobile revenue, with an advertising push that will be based on tracking which apps are used on phones.

This will not be all apps, just those that are used through its Facebook Connect feature, and then it will produce ads based on that usage. Apple and Google currently track what apps users have downloaded, and Apple targets them with specific ads while Google currently does not, the piece said.

Facebook and Yahoo kiss and make up on patents
In a move that stands out because it is so rare, Facebook and Yahoo have come to an agreement on patent infringement issues that had lead to the filing of lawsuits against each other. Rather than see the issue through the long and costly court system the two settled all patent issues between themselves.

In addition the two have launched a new advertising partnership and extended and expanded an existing distribution agreement between the two companies. As part of the advertising agreement their will work to get ads that run on both sites and work to integrate the two sites.

Leading Judge blasts US Patent system
On the flip side of the Facebook/Yahoo agreement is the Apple vs. Motorola Mobility lawsuits. U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner, the man who threw out the case between the two has said that the patent system resembles a jungle were rivals seek to wound foes by any means necessary.

Posner questioned whether patents should cover software in high tech and said that while it made sense to give intellectual property protection in some areas such as pharmaceuticals due to the huge investments, he wondered if that was true in other markets.

Samsung wins temporary stay on Galaxy Nexus ban
The US Court of Appeals has granted a temporary stay on the injunction that prevented Samsung from selling its popular Galaxy smartphones. Apple now has until July 12 to respond to the motion to stay, according to Foss Patents.

After Apple responds the court will then decide on a stay for the entire time that it takes fro Samsung’s formal appeal to be heard. Samsung had apparently lost its last 5 attempts to win a stay in this case, according to Foss.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, Barnes & Noble, Facebook, Kindle, Lawsuit, Mashable, Motorola, Nook, Oracle, Samsung, Tablets, Yahoo Tagged With: , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: ESPN’s Strong Euro, Archos $250 Tablet

July 6, 2012 by

ESPN followed Spain’s’ lead and finished strong in the Euro 2012, bringing in its strongest soccer ratings to date. The broadcaster reported double and triple digit increases in viewers across all of its platforms that carried the matches.

The finals match that featured Italy against Spain, won by Spain 4-0, set a record as the most-watched UEFA Championship game in the United States and was watched by an average audience of 4.068 million viewers. This represented an 8% increase from four years ago from the Spain vs. Germany match.

For the whole of the tournament, which took place over a three week period and featured 31 matches, ESPN’s English language presentation had a 51% viewership increase from 2008. Its digital properties were in some ways even stronger with 900,000 unique viewers on its ESPNFC.Com and ESPNSoccernet.com , up 54% and 28% respectively while mobile usage across its platforms was up 497%.

Samsung fails to block injunction
A US Court has denied Samsung’s request for a stay on a preliminary injunction against the company that is preventing it from selling its Galaxy Nexus smartphone as well as for a similar injunction against it selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

The injunctions are the result of a ruling in a long running patent dispute between Samsung and Apple. The company wanted the suspension while it takes its case to the US Court of Appeals, according to an article in Infoworld.

Tablets to outsell notebooks in four years
A report from the research firm NPD Display Search predicted that notebooks will be supplanted by tablets and the mobile computing device of choice by 2016. It said that notebook sales will continue to increase, from an estimated 208 million units this year to 393 million units by 2017.

However during that same time span tablet sales will grow at a much faster pace, increasing from 121 million units this year to an estimated 416 million units by 2017. Among that factors that will fuel the growth are its improved portability and battery life when compared to notebooks.

Apple loses patent round in UK
While Apple has managed to block Samsung in the US, to a degree, it has failed in a similar suit in the United Kingdom, where the courts have ruled against it in a fight with HTC. The high Court ruled that HTC did not infringe on Apple’s photo management patent.

It also ruled that three additional patents that were in dispute were invalid, including apple’s ‘slide to unlock’ feature, according to TechWorld. If Apple had succeeded in its cases it would have affected both tablet and smartphone products from HTC.

Archos unveils 97 Carbon Tablet
Archos has taken the wraps off of its latest tablet, the Archos 97 Carbon. It features a 9.7-inch display with 1024 x 768 pixels that is capable of running 1080p HD video. The 1.5 pound tablet features 16GB built-in storage and supports an additional 16GB via either a SDHC card or a USB flash drive.

The tablet features a mini-HDMI port and has 1GB of memory. It runs the current Android 4.0 operating system and is powered by a 1GHz ARM Cortex processor. The starting price for the table is expected to be $250.

Recapp adds Summer Olympics news
Sports news aggregator Recapp has added support for the upcoming Summer Olympics in London. The app, which brings the leading news stories on user selected sports topics has expanded its support so that now you can follow your favorite teams and events during the games with articles from a wide source of news outlets including Sports Illustrated and ESPN.

A tale of two smartphones
Samsung, developer of some of the most popular smartphones, has reported that its latest quarter had a profit of $5.9 billion with earnings from its mobile phone division more than doubling in the quarter as Galaxy sales soared.

On the flip side is HTC, which had a very poor quarter, reporting that its net profits fell 58% from the same quarter a year ago, with a net profit of $247 million and it said that the current quarter’s outlook is cloudy due to increased competition.

LUMOback- the anti-couch potato device?
A sensor and app designed for better posture? That is what LUMOback is designed to provide. The sensor pad fits in your chair and vibrates when you slouch in your chair and provides feedback to your iPhone in an effort to promote good posture. Android and other platform support is on the horizon, the company said. The project on Kickstarter has already exceeded its $100,000 goal. I wonder if it is a comfortable vibration because I could get a pretty good massage while watching the NFL.

Rumors de jour
Amazon is planning on fighting back against Google and others by introducing its own smartphone and is looking to buy patents in that space first. Amazon has declined to comment.

It also looks like the next generation Kindle, the Kindle Fire 2, will be available in the fall as well. This is not really a surprise considering how hot the original Fire sales were during last year’s holiday season.

Is Apple preparing a mini iPad for Fall introduction, many sources say so. Numerous sites and news agencies have reported that a 7-inch version is on the way in order to fight Amazon, Google and others that are concentrating in this space.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN3, Euro 2012, FTC, Google, HTC, iPad, iPhone, Kickstarter, Kindle, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Olympics, PCWorld, Samsung, Smartphone, Soccer, Tablets, WatchESPN Tagged With: , , , , ,

Watching Golf Profile: Shot Link and Shot Tracker — How Wireless + Lasers + Volunteers Makes Golf Stats Come Alive

July 3, 2012 by

A Shot Link laser operator sights a ball. Photo credits: PGA Tour.

When you watch golf on TV — or online — do you ever wonder exactly how the commentators know, within seconds, how far a player is from the green? Or from a bunker or hazard? If you are a golf veteran you may know of something called Shot Link, which somehow uses lasers to figure out the distance in seconds. But do you really know how it all works? And why it needs a wireless network and a whole bunch of volunteer help to bring it together every week?

Here at MSR we have been entranced this year with an app on the PGA Tour website called Shot Tracker. On the surface it looks just like an online leaderboard — until you glance at it while a tournament is going on, and you see all kinds of little graphics going in motion. Only then do you realize that hey — this thing is showing every shot on the course! — and if you are like me you are instantly addicted, watching seven different scores at once, to see how Tiger did out of the rough, how Phil did out of the trap, and whether Jason Day made that 40-foot, 4-inch putt.

Shot Link laser operators in a greenside tower.

Naturally, we wanted to know how it all worked so we put in a call to the PGA and eventually got on the horn with Steve Evans, a senior vice president in the PGA’s information systems department. Evans was kind enough to walk us through the amazing behind-the-scenes technology of Shot Link and Shot Tracker, both of which will likely play a huge role as the tour embraces more mobile data consumption options for its stats-insatiable fans.

The key to understanding Shot Tracker is to know about Shot Link, the system that is the heart and soul of instant PGA statistics. Shot Tracker, which is an app on the PGA’s website, gets all its data from Shot Link, the system set up on each course. On the Shot Link site the PGA describes the system thusly:

The ShotLink System is a revolutionary platform for collecting and disseminating scoring and statistical data on every shot by every player in real-time. The vision of the system is to “Turn data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into entertainment.”

Another view of a handheld laser/scoring system in action.

According to Evans the two technological keys to Shot Link are wireless handheld devices for entering data about shots, and laser-based survey equipment, which as you might guess provides an accurate distance from laser to a golf ball lying in the grass. With every group of golfers in a PGA Tour event covered by Shot Link there is one person walking with the group as a scorer, entering information like “shot hit” when someone swings at a ball. On each hole there are also handheld and tower-located laser stations, to get fixes on balls in the fairways, rough, sand, and on the green.

The final piece to the Shot Link system is a huge graphical database of every course the PGA plays on, mapped for distances. Via triangulation from their laser stations and some sophisticated computer programs the Shot Link system can almost instantly calculate distances to greens, hazards and other places on their map — which the tour can then relay to commentators in the broadcast booths, making them seem like complete wizards of distance. But it turns out, there’s a lot of elves running around making the wizards look good.

Wireless Networks, and Lots of Volunteers

In addition to some impressive techno-firepower — Evans said the PGA has three different Shot Track setups that leapfrog each other going from venue to venue, with computer servers and office space in separate 53-foot trailers — at each venue the tour must draft up to 350 volunteers to staff the scoring system. When you start thinking about two-person crews for each tower laser, with one tower on par-3 holes, two on par-4s and three on par-5s, plus walking scorers, plus walking laser holders, plus several shifts to cover all the golfers at a tourney — the volunteer needs add up. But Evans said the drafting is actually getting easier each year.

“We have about an 80 percent retention rate” of volunteers signing up year after year, Evans said.

The PGA also installs its own wireless network on each site, using approximately 22 access points, putting antennas up in the air a bit so that there is good coverage for all the handheld scoring devices and the lasers. Evans said the PGA also has sophisticated enough software to check for data anomalies, and if a question comes up the answer can be confirmed if necessary via a voice radio.

What you have, in the end, is some incredible real-time data gathering being used to fuel stats and graphics that help bring the game to life, both in information relayed to TV broadcast crews as well as delivered directly to fans via apps like Shot Tracker.

And it’s not just distances that Shot Link provides. At the recent FedEx St. Jude Classic, it seemed like a lot of guys were rinsing their shots into water hazards. So a query was run against Shot Link data, and sure enough it showed that over 9 years there were more balls hit in the water at the FedEx than at any other course. Now that’s turning knowledge into entertainment.

On the drawing board is a new version of Shot Tracker, the addictive app that uses Shot Link data to show where and how players are playing on a leaderboard. Since the current version was built using Adobe Flash technology, it can’t be easily shown on Apple iPhones and iPads, since those devices don’t support Flash programs.

“Our road map [for Shot Tracker] is multi-platform, with lots of talk about mobile devices,” Evans said. He also hinted there might be a different user interface, perhaps one more like the one recently used for the U.S. Open that showed different playing groups on a graphical map of the course. That app, however, didn’t show shot by shot data, the killer app thing that Shot Link brings to the table.

As wireless electronics get better and cheaper, who knows what the future will bring — perhaps wireless microchips in each ball? For now, Shot Link and Shot Tracker are pretty darn good, and for that we can thank the PGA IT folks and the many, many volunteers who push the buttons and sight the lasers.

“It’s been kind of neat, to figure out how to build something like Shot Link,” Evans said. Golf fans everywhere, no doubt, agree.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Golf, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, PGA, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Windows 8 apps, Motorola’s FTC Issues

July 2, 2012 by

Just days after Apple received an injunction banning Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 being imported into the United States Apple has received a second injunction against Samsung. U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh, who granted the first injunction, has also granted one that prevents the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

As with the first injunction Apple must first post a bond, this time $96 million to cover damages if the case is ultimately decided in Samsung’s favor. The judge ruled that it was likely that Samsung infringed on four Apple patents.

FTC looking at Motorola patent licensing practices
The Federal Trade Commission is looking at how Motorola licenses its patents with an eye out as to how the company deals with licenses for its patents that are adopted as industry standards. The FTC has sent investigative demands to the company this week, according to Electronista.

The FTC is examining if Google is living up to its requirements to meet fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing of the patents and follows a similar investigation that has just been opened by the European on FRAND violations. A ruling against Motorola could have a major impact on the various lawsuits it currently has ongoing with rivals such as Apple and Microsoft.

HP eyes business with next generation tablet
Hewlett-Packard has said that its first Windows 8 tablet will not chase the consumer market but will instead be focused on the business side of the industry. The first offering will run on an x86 processor and run Windows 8.

It does possibly also plan on offering an ARM-based system that will use the Windows RT version of Windows 8 for consumers but has not publicly committed to that move just yet, according to PCWorld.

Asus to release Audio Dock for Nexus 7
Asus, Google’s manufacturing partner for its Nexus 7 has said that it plans to release an Audio Dock for the tablet later this year. According to Pocket-Lint it will be designed to look as if it is part of the Nexus 7 and will also come in black.

The dock will be designed to charge the tablet as well as hold it upright so that a user can watch videos at the same time, according to the article.

Pebble smartwatch unveils SDK
The Pebble e-paper smartwatch, the poster child for Kickstarter success stories, has taken its next step to mainstream product with the release of its software developer kit at the Google I/O show last week. It will be interesting to see if the support from the developer community matches the huge support it received from individual investors.

Upcoming Summer Olympics fuel increased spam
Silicon Angle is reporting that there has been an upsurge in spam that is seeking to exploit fans interest in the upcoming Summer Olympics in London. Seeking to plant malware on your system or just pushing some product that you have never heard of or care for it does not matter, they are coming for you.

According to the article, the number of message titles is large and growing. An example includes:
• 2012 Games Entertainments Co-ordinator
• 2012 Olympic Draws
• 2012 Olympic Promo
• 2012 Olympic Promotion Board United Kingdom – South Africa
• 2012 Olympics, A Lottery For The Future
• 2012 Summer Olympic Lottery
• 2012 Summer Olympic/Paralympic Games

Microsoft thinks global with Windows 8 apps
Microsoft has said that when it starts shipping its upcoming Windows 8 operating system users in 180 countries will be able to have access to the growing number of apps being developed for the operating system. While the list is a work in progress the company said that most nations will have access to ts Marketplace and App hub. According to PC Mag, apps are currently available in only 63 countries for the current Windows Phone and Windows 7 operating systems.

Nielsen starts tracking top YouTube Channels
Nielsen has started tracking streaming video on YouTube’s growing family of partners and the first results are in about who is included in the Top 5 . The race is led by Vevo, followed by WMG, Machinima, Fullscreen and Maker.

The names in some cases might not ring a bell, but the traffic is enough to make you stand up and take notice. Vevo has 695 million streams and 41 million unique viewers! Maker, the #5 drew in an impressive 9.6 million unique viewers. All of this is just for the month of May, 2012. One interesting tidbit was that more than half of the viewers to each channel were under 35 years of age.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, FTC, Google, iPad, iPhone, Kickstarter, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Motorola, Nielsen Ratings, Olympics, Tablets, Windows 8, YouTube Tagged With: , , , , ,

BMC debuts Team App Just Prior To Tour de France Start

June 29, 2012 by

BMC has two of the most appealing plots in the Tour de France this year: Can Australian Cadel Evans successfully defend his 2011 title? And can American George Hincapie, making his record-setting 17th Tour de France start, get his record-tying 16th finish?

The seven other riders on the BMC squad all have their own stories to tell in the Tour de France, too. Which is why, the team has unveiled its 2012 mobile app for Android and Apple iPhones.

Team news and race results are easily accessible via the free app. Race action photos, rider bios, information on the BMC Racing Team’s partners, direct links to the team’s online store, Twitter feed, Facebook page and Tour Tracker or all available via the free app.

And from the lighter side, fans can find out what team resident music expert, Manuel Quinziato, is listening to via his “Quinziatunes” playlist.

The BMC Racing Team app can be downloaded for Android, here and for iPhone here

BMC held a pre-race Tour de France press conference with comments by Cadel Evans and Philippe Gilbert. Listen here

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, iPhone
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