Watching Golf this Week: The Memorial, or ‘We’re All Back at Jack’s House’

May 31, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Just when Zach Johnson threatened to kill off his own victory with a last-hole brain fart — and drag the golf season into perhaps fatal tedium with people talking nonstop about rules — golf fans are saved by the arrival of the Memorial this week, a sort of mini-major that will have all the big names back in play, including Tiger, Rory, and even Bubba the baby dad! Plus Dustin Johnson back from fighting off back injuries and drug rumors, and the rest… Rickie… Dufner… it’s the 6th major, the Memorial!

The course, of course, is Jack’s own spread, otherwise known as Muirfield Village in Dublin, O-HI-O. We’ve never been there but if the best golfer ever built a tournament-tailored spread from the dirt up you know it’s gonna be good. And it is. And so will be the golf, some of which you will be able to watch online, since the Tour’s Live@ online video is back this week. Plus there is bonus weekend early coverage on the Golf Channel, so if you’ve been longing to watch something other than Jason Dufner and his dip, this is the weekend to get back on the couch or in front of your mobile device of choice. In addition to enjoying top-notch golf, this might be the perfect time to explore real estate opportunities, particularly unique ones like barndominiums. If you’ve ever been curious about alternative housing options, there’s everything to know about buying a barndominium. These versatile structures combine the rustic charm of a barn with the modern comforts of a condominium, offering a distinctive living experience that’s gaining popularity. Whether you’re looking for a primary residence or a spacious getaway, understanding the ins and outs of purchasing a barndominium can help you make an informed decision that suits your lifestyle and investment goals.

Here’s where to follow the action:

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE INSURANCE

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Thursday, May 31 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, June 1 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, June 2 — Golf Channel, 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 3 — Golf Channel, 12 p.m. – 2 p.m.; CBS, 2:30 p.m. — 6 p.m.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite)
12 p.m. — 6 p.m., Thursday-Sunday

ONLINE
Live@ Returns! You can watch the Memorial live on your computer, or handheld device (download the PGA app) from 11 a.m. Eastern to 6 p.m. each day. If your Android app is fuzzy on video, won’t you comment below?

PGA SHOT TRACKER
If all you want is shots and distances (which can be addicting) get your fix via Shot Tracker for the Memorial.

FACEBOOK PAGE
The Memorial’s is right here.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
Memorial Golf — the tourney’s own Twitter feed. So far these things have been… underwhelming. Let’s see if Memorial can tweet like a champ.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend (and she is back from a brief couple weeks off the tour. Already sharing Instagrams from Muirfield!)

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
Muirfield Village Golf Club — designed by Jack for tournament play. Here’s the tourney site course page, which looks plain but has a lot of interactivity if you click around, video flybys and multiple hole vantage points. The Nicklaus design company page has some stunning photos as well.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Steve Stricker. Remember him? And yes… Tiger has won this thing four times.

LOCAL FLAVOR
The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch has things pretty well nailed down with a big Memorial Xtra website. Interactive course map, video, features, it’s all here. Hurray for newspapers.

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Jason Dufner, 1,735 points
2. Hunter Mahan, 1,427 points
3. Zach Johnson, 1,386
4. Bubba Watson, 1,372
5. Phil Mickelson, 1,307

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Luke Donald; 2. Rory McIlroy; 3. Lee Westwood; 4. Bubba Watson; 5. Matt Kuchar.
See the official World Golf Ranking list.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, CBS Sports, Facebook, Golf, Golf Channel, iPad, Live sports via mobile, PGA, Tablets, Tiger Woods, Twitter Tagged With: Bubba Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Muirfield Village, Rory McIlroy, The Memorial, Tiger Woods

Fujitsu updates its Stylistic Tablet lineup

May 30, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Fujitsu will be delivering its latest tablet sometime in the next few weeks, called the Stylistic M532, and it is not targeting the consumer but rather the mobile professional with the lightweight 10-inch device, a move that to a degree sets it apart from most of its rivals.

When you look at the company’s page touting the device the business approach screams out at you. Rather than a full deck of speeds and feeds, which are present, it talks about the tablets ability to support a company’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for secure access to apps. It points out how corporate apps such as exchange mail, calendar and contacts can be used safely while remaining behind corporate firewalls.

This is a refreshing approach and it should be helped by the fact that this is not a repositioning of an older machine, it uses Android’s 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system and is powered by an Nvidia quad-core 1.4GHz Tegra 3.

It features a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 display and has a 2 megapixel front camera as well as a 8 MP backward facing camera. It has 1GB of memory as well as a 32GB flash internal storage drive and supports one MicroSD slot

Many of the players in the tablet space appear to be making headway into the corporate and government space simply via a semi stealth approach. Employees bring in their own devices (BYOD) and rather than set limits or demand uniformity in platforms the BYOD approach appears to be working.

Cisco was one of the first to take a different approach, trying to position its Cius tablet as a business product and selling directly to professionals through its business channel partners. This approach, and possibly its high price point, failed to catch on and now the company is ramping down the product.

According to a piece on ZDNet, Fujitsu is positioning its slightly older Stylistic Q550 offering, a tablet that runs Windows 7, at the BYOD space, enabling it to approach this market from a personal and corporate position at the same time. In addition it looks to have a new lineup in the fall when Microsoft releases Windows 8.

While we do not focus on the corporate segments of the tablet market this strategy is an interesting one since it seems that rather than an all-in-one approach that Apple takes or the specific niche market that the eReaders are developing, Fujitsu is building slightly different products for multiple segments and it will be enlightening to see how they are all accepted or what factors are inhibiting sales.

The benefit for consumers is that if they are looking for a tablet this might be the selling point to get work to pony up the cash and buy it for you, or at least get approval to being it in the office as work approved device.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, Cisco, Fujitsu, iPad, Tablets Tagged With: Apple, Cisco, Fujitsu, Tablets

Webscorer Debuts Timing Apps to Save Plenty of Time at Races

May 29, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Sports fans, coaches, event organizers, timing companies, publishers and even proud parents can now easily track sporting event results with a new a comprehensive platform that automates much of more complicated manual timing formats.

Webscorer Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., has introduced a platform that includes three integrated components, also usable separately: a race registration tool, a manual race timing app that runs on the iPad and iPhone, and a website that supports race results posting from the Webscorer timing app and other sources via an open interface.

Webscorer PRO is available as an in-app subscription from Webscorer FAN at the following rates on the iPhone and iPad versions for $9.99 for one week and $49.99 for one year. Webscorer Online Race Registration Service Webscorer has varying costs. Webscorer .TXT Results Posting Service is free.

“As a racer myself, I witnessed the difficulty race organizers were having in timing races and providing timely results to racers,” said Vesa Suomalainen, CEO of Webscorer. “With the emergence of the mobile Internet, we saw an opportunity to help modernize the pen & paper method still widely used in recreational racing today.”

Founded in July 2009, Webscorer began with a mission to make race timing easier, more affordable and to improve the quality & speed to get the results to racers.

The full Webscorer platform is available worldwide. Webscorer has identified 36 timing-sports that can benefit from its products.

For more information, visit www.webscorer.com as well as the company’s Facebook, YouTube pages and Twitter account (@webscorer).

Filed Under: Apps, Cycling, iPad, iPhone Tagged With: Apps, Cycling, iPhone, Races, Running, timing

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Facebook Phone, Dell Tablet Specs?

May 29, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Toshiba has announced that it is getting out of the netbook market and will not be offering new ones, at least in the United States. This follows a trend that has been developing for some time as others have already discontinued their efforts, including Dell.

Toshiba said that it will instead be focusing on the ultrabook, an emerging class of notebooks that feature light, sleek form factors coupled with powerful processors, according to Liliputing. I suspect that the netbook category is going to be killed, at least in the US, by ultrabook from one direction and tablets in the other.

Dell Tablet specs leaked?
I am always a bit leery of publishing leaked information unless it was leaked to me personally but the piece over at Neowin looks pretty compelling. It appears that Dell is developing its forthcoming Windows 8 tablet around Intel’s Clover Trail dual core Atom processor and that the device will have a 10.1-inch HD display with 1366 x 768 resolution.

Other features include 2GB of memory and as much as 128 GB of SSD storage. An interesting feature looks to be a removable battery that allows users to choose between one that has a 6-8 hour life and a larger one that has 10-12 hour life.

Apple’s response to DOJ a good read
While I have not read the legal documents the people at Forbes have gone to the trouble and bring out some marvelous quotes from Apple’s filings and some interesting commentary about how they foresee the case progressing.

Not being a lawyer hinders any real objective opinion on my part but I think that the author of the piece, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, makes a pretty compelling argument on Apple’s side. Head over for his piece and a like to the Apple filing.

Crowdfunding site flaws?
I increasingly talk about crowd funding as it is an interesting method for small developers to get the initial funding needed to launch a product. However there is another side to the equation that is clearly brought out by Gizmodo — the failures.

It points out that companies that you see on its front page are ones that are getting funding, while ones that fail, or are on their way to failure, seem to completely disappear from the site, as it only wants to show winning or potential winning offerings.

Since, according to the article, Kickstarter gets a percentage of the amount pledged; this makes sense since only projects that get 100% of their request get anything. To see why some of them might have failed head over to Mashable for a short piece on crowd funding mistakes.

The Patent Wars continue

Microsoft wins round versus Motorola in Germany
Apparently Microsoft owns patents relating to how you splint one log text message into two smaller ones and Motorola has violated those patents. A German court ruled that Motorola’s technology to permit this feature infringes on Microsoft’s patents. It was reported that while Microsoft could ban Motorola products in the country it is instead seeking a license fee.

The two have been going at it tooth and nail for some time in the patent department with both sides scoring what appear to be major victories. I wonder of the license fee is the first step towards resolving their issues.

Apple tops in mobile PCs
The preliminary results are in for the NPD DisplaySearch’s Quarterly Mobile PC Shipments and Forecast Report is in and to the probably surprise of no one Apple is the top dog in this field. According to the report Apple shipped approximately 17.2 million mobile PCs in Q1’12.

This is a 118% increase over the same period from a year ago and of the total iPads represented 80% of Apple’s total, or 13.6 million units. For the industry as a whole the results were nowhere near as good with shipments growing 30% year to year, reaching 76.2 million for the quarter.

Cisco kills Tablet
In a move that surprised me because the product never appeared on my radar in the first place, Cisco is killing its Cius tablet. The networking giant had developed and introduced the tablet a year ago with the stated purpose of pioneering the business market with the product.

The tablet featured a 7-inch display and had a $750 list price. Sold via its channel partners it was obviously hurt by lower cost offerings from rivals that businesses increasingly allowed employees to bring in from home.

Facebook building smartphone?
The New York Times has reported that Facebook is once again dipping its toe into the smartphone market and has a project underway that should see a new product available in the market sometime next year.

According to the article Facebook has been actively hiring hardware and software engineers including a number that had worked on Apple’s iPhone. It had been reported a few years ago that Facebook had a development project for a phone but killed it.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Cisco, Dell, Facebook, Kickstarter, Mashable, Microsoft, Motorola, Smartphone, Startup, Tablets Tagged With: Android, Apple, Apps, Cisco, Facebook, Motorola

Belmont Stakes’ Website gets Facelift with Social Media, Mobile Modules

May 27, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Even sports steeped in tradition have changed as fans’ habits following their favorite sports continue to evolve. The Belmont Stakes, the 144th edition of which will be held June 9, is a prime example.

The website of the final leg racing Triple Crown, BelmontStakes.com, has been updated to include the Facebook page of the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and Twitter page.

The site’s social media modules are updated in real time with the latest Belmont Stakes news.

The NYRA has also debuted a featured group on GroupMe, the New York-based chat room site, for the Belmont Stakes. It also allow fans to stay connected through mobile devices and the web.

BelmontStakes.com offers videos, photo galleries, news, race day information, a section dedicated to the race’s history, and special content from the Daily Racing Form.

The website allows fans to sign up for the Belmont Stakes Prize Package, offering the chance to win tickets, hotel, and airfare to the Belmont Stakes. Contributors include veteran journalists Teresa Genaro, Jenn Kellner, Ernie Munick and Andy Serling.

Filed Under: Apps, Facebook, Uncategorized Tagged With: Belmont Stakes, Facebook, horseracing

Friday Grab Bag: Astrodome doomed, Apple Exec Knighted

May 25, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Remember Michelle Wie, the precocious teen golfer that continually tried to crack the PGA, all without winning on the LPGA? (Well she actually did win her first title in 2009 but still…) Well she has now achieved something that is quite praiseworthy; she has graduated from Stanford University with an undergraduate degree in communications.

Hopefully she will go on and her career mirrors that other famous Stanford Golfer, Tiger Woods, at least with his success on the links.

Google rapidly makes changes at Motorola Mobility
Days after China finally gave its blessing to the $12.5 billion union between Google and Motorola Mobility changes have already started. Motorola’s chief executive officer Sanjay Jha is stepping down from that position and is being replaced by Dennis Woodside, according to a blog post from Google’s CEO Larry Page.

Woodside is a long-time Google executive and has held a number of positions at Google and his current title was Senior Vice President. There are now rumors that there will be layoffs at Motorola but so far Google has been mum on the topic.

Facebook Rage
There was an odd amount of glee when Facebook’s huge IPO did not experience a solid bump on its first day of trading, but now as it slowly sinks all week people are coming out of the woodwork with some solid complaints against the company and its underwriters.

I am sure that you have seen the growing anger as investors discover that the underwriters had reevaluated Facebook’s quarterly and yearly revenues downward, and had not filled in everybody involved. Or did they? Morgan Stanley said it has done nothing wrong but already at least one class action lawsuit has been filed and the SEC is looking into the issue.

The 8th Wonder of the World to go under Wrecking Ball
When the Houston Astrodome opened to glowing reviews in 1965 it was touted as the ‘8th Wonder of the World” but it is now an obsolete building slowly rotting away. Other hi-tech stadiums have outpaced it and simply having a dome over a field now has no cachet.

The city spends millions on upkeep for a building who’s tenants have fled and the cost of destruction has been pegged at $128 million, while renovation would cost between $400 million and $600 million In a city that already has two new stadiums, one for football and one for baseball it is hard to see how it can justify spending that much on the facility.

Apple exec is knighted
Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design is now Sir Jonathan Ive after having been made a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE). He was presented the honor by the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace earlier this week. The award was in honor of his services in the area of design and enterprise.

After the ceremony Ive said that the current group of products that are currently under way at Apple will be the best yet that the company has released. Ive, who has a reputation for secrecy, did not elaborate.

No Expansion of replay for now in MLB
MLB commissioner Bud Selig, speaking at a sports and society conference at St. Norbert College said that he does not believe that baseball needs to expand video review of umpires’ calls, at least right now, according to ESPN.

Selig said that there has been very little pressure to do ao and that since adding additional areas to the existing replay would require approval from both the players and the umpires will not be considered until at least next year, with trapped balls and balls hit down the line will likely be the primary focus. I for one cannot remember when the last trapped ball controversy occurred-anybody recall one?

Google wins at Oracle trial
Any dreams Oracle may have had for a huge payday based on its claims in its patent and copyright trial with Google has not come to pass and the jury sided with Google that it did not infringe on Oracle’s patents.

According to a brief note in the San Francisco Chronicle the jury decision means that Oracle can only collect a maximum of $150,000 in damages. I wonder if that even covers the cost of the case for the company. I doubt it.

No new apps for Windows Phone 7.0
Microsoft Windows Phone users that have not upgraded their operating system from 7.0 to Windows 7.5 are not blocked from adding or upgrading apps on their phone using its Marketplace site. The company released 7.5 last fall.

Google’s Larry Page wears half a glass. Is he an optimist?
Google’s CEO Larry Page wore a pair of glasses (with only one lens) made to support the company’s Project Glass development in a video that was shared on a company web page. He talked about the glasses and did a demonstration with them.

He used the glasses to snap a photo which required using a physical button on the glasses but he was able to share it with a head gesture and a tap of the glasses. It will be interesting to see what features appear in the final project when it finally arrives, and how fast people will seek to ban their use when driving etc…

AMD prepares for tablet space
Digi Times is reporting that when Microsoft releases Windows 8 later this year the AMD plans to insert itself into the mix with a low powered processor that it has designed for this space. The company will have its Hondo processors available and will quickly refresh the lineup in 2013 with a new architecture in its Tamesh line.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Facebook, Golf, Google, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Motorola, Tablets Tagged With: Apple, Golf, Google, Motorola, Tablets