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Cookoo seeks to follow in Pebble’s Footsteps

May 24, 2012 by

Another connected watch; this time from developer ConnectedDevice called the Cookoo Connected Watch has found its way to the land of hopeful investors that is Kickstarter. The offering is less ambitious than what Pebble is seeking to deliver but also comes in what appears to be a much sleeker package.

The Cookoo seeks to strip down the connected device experience to the basics. It connects to either an Android or iOS powered device via Bluetooth and lets you know if you have received a call, text, Facebook notification and a few other settings. Using its app a user can set what information it will alert them to and how, either a buzz or a vibration. The appropriate icon on the watch will flash when a notification is required.

The watch uses a regular watch battery and is not rechargeable but the company estimates that an average user will get a year’s activity per battery. It is expected to have a $99.95 list price when available. On Kickstarter the Cookoo has so far raised $25,094 of its goal of $150,000 with 357 backers. It has 43 days to go before the make or break it deadline.

While many of the emerging class of connected accessories have a sports aspect to them, goggles that show ski terrain, a watch that show the distance to the pin in golf for instance. While Pebble is not designed specifically for that the first apps emerging are sports related.

However the Cookoo may be the validation for this type of endeavor even if it is not sports related. Hauling out your smartphone to look at the time, or check text messages is increasingly frowned on in meetings as management wants your attention. By simply looking at your watch to see if a text has arrived, to check your calendar and the few other functions could really make the device beneficial.

It is interesting in that the runaway success of Pebble’s could have some negative aspects. The products developers were seeking $100,000 and received backing of $10,266,845. Maybe a bit of overkill?

The issue here is taxes. The company’s product is not yet available, and yet it will soon have revenue of $10 million, so it seems that developers using crowd funding had better read up on this aspect of their business plan quickly.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Kickstarter, Startup Tagged With: ,

Will Nvidia’s Kai lead to Less Expensive Tablets?

May 24, 2012 by

At its annual shareholder meeting Nvidia showed a prototype Android tablet platform that it has code named Kai and that it is positioning as the basis, with its processors, for lower cost family of tablets.

The heart of the Kai tablet would be Nvidia’s Tegra-3 processor that the company seeks to leverage as the heart of a new line of Tablets that will have powerful processing and graphics capabilities but will rival Amazon’s Kindle in price rather than butt heads with Apple’s iPad at the high end.

Nvidia already has a head start in the tablet and smartphone space going forward as along with Microsoft it has been actively seeding hardware vendors with laptops that feature the chip in an effort to create an active ecosystem of apps prior to the release of Windows 8 later this year.

This appears to be taking that a step further. Its executives talked about how the processor, along with an ARM-based chip, could enable a generation of less expensive Android tablets and that its years of experience in this space of developing for Windows will serve it in good stead.

Of course so does rival Intel which is seeking to establish its Atom processor as at least part of any Windows Tablet ecosystem and while it can work with Nvidia it is also seeking to supplant ARM as the heart of these systems so how closely Nvidia is integrated with the various ARM chips out there could be an issue.

We at MSR support anything that will help grow the tablet market, and not because we secretly own stock in the companies involved. Currently I use my phone as a secondary screen quite often when watching sports, particularly football. When the price point drops enough I think I might have several, one just dedicated to sitting next to my remote control, unless I use it as a remote control as well.

I can see not only the second screen market but also as portable screens when visiting friends (in some cases) following outdoor sports and a variety of other uses. Since a household is likely to have more than one person it would make sense to have one dedicated for use in the TV room and another for a any other use that might occur.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, iPad, Kindle, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , ,

Microsoft Slowly Pushing So.Cl Social Media Engine to Public

May 24, 2012 by

Microsoft has expanded the scope of who can use its So.Cl (pronounced social) social media search technology to everybody after a quiet beta push, as it seeks to establish it as a mainstream player in the social media environment.

So.Cl is a search engine that is designed to find and share social media, enabling you to connect with other users that have similar searches and interests and hopefully create an engagement between the participants. It enables users to take an assortment of media such as video, texts and photos, combine them into posts and then share them.

It is one of the many efforts under development at the company’s FUSE Labs and Microsoft has taken a low and cautious rollout for the product, quite the opposite of some of its efforts in the past. The company designed the technology for students and select schools were the first beta sites including University of Washington and New York University.

The student focus is intentional as the company has said that it believes that the features of the program reflect on how schools are teaching and how students are learning today, and not just computer science or technical students but for a range of scholastic focuses.

While focused on students I wonder how this will evolve, assuming that it does get off the ground. New sports blogs, apps for teaching players what to look for in an NFL defense, with commentary and past results listed in the frame? I have seen some pretty advanced sports pages and the ability to bring a large number of like minded fans, say baseball stat people, with live video examples etc.. could be compelling.

The effort was decidedly low key and that of course might have simply been because Microsoft did not want to try to be heard over all of the noise coming from the Facebook IPO or just because it is taking a different approach to establishing the technology.

So far it has had mixed reviews (I have not tried it yet) with Digital Trends decidedly unimpressed and with Cnet much more impressed with all of the features that the service provides.

Filed Under: Apps, Baseball, Facebook, Fanatic Fans, Google, Microsoft, So.Cl, Social Media, Social Media Data, Sports Social Media, Sports Social Media Data Tagged With: , , ,

Nike Unveils New Golfer Performance App, NG 360

May 23, 2012 by

The ever-elusive golfing social media market has a new entrant, from one of sport’s biggest names: Nike today unveiled its NG 360 app, which is designed to be a one-stop shop for golfers who want to improve their game, their golf fitness, and to connect with like-minded friends.

Available only for the iPhone (Nike golf’s Twitter stream said an Android version is due soon) the NG 360 app (for Nike Golf 360) is, according to Nike, a place to “Track your rounds, dig deep on stats, get feedback on your swing from pros and your friends, and access golf-specific workouts. NG360° is a clubhouse, practice tee, gym and pro shop — all in one, and always with you.” The app is free for download from the iTunes app store.

Though many have tried to tap the millions-strong market of golfers who clearly love to track, talk about and most importantly, buy things to improve their games, nobody yet has come up with a Facebook-type winner where everyone wants to be. Some of that, no doubt, is due to the fact that for many people, golf is an escape from work, which now means their phone. Sure it sounds great to have a cool golfing app right there in your pocket but it’s so close to email that it may get ignored by golfers who are instead enjoying the sunshine and a cold beverage.

Nike also seems to have a kind of badge/reward system in place to honor golfers who are getting better, but not having played with the app, I wonder if there is too much going on here. I for one would kill to have just a simple place to record scores, and perhaps to access them via the phone from the cloud whenever I am out on a course. It’s unclear how the NG 360 performs at simple things. Time and some user feedback will likely tell, quickly.

Where Nike may have an edge over past and current efforts to tap the golfer-social-media-stats market (like Callaway’s new gizmo) is in its innovative twists, one to let you record your swing in video and another to allow professional instructors to help you improve your game. Like many things, NG 360 sounds great as an idea. Now let’s see if Nike’s marketing can find success in a field where many have failed.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Golf, Nike, Outdoor Activities Tagged With: , , ,

New Crowd Funding site Fundable to Challenge Kickstarter

May 23, 2012 by

A new player has entered the crowd funding scene called Fundable and it will also seek to connect startup companies and developers with backers that are willing to provide funds in exchange for rewards such as early versions of products.

The model looks very familiar to others in this space such as Kickstarter in that it is an all or nothing funding model and that there is a time limit involved, and if the funding does not make it to the stated goal they get nothing. The main difference may be that Fundable will seek to fund for-profit companies, while Kickstarter is all about creative projects, like literature, movies and the like.

By that token Fundable is expected to go one step farther than its rivals. According to its downloadable fact sheet, but not mentioned at all on its general web page is the fact that the company will also enable startups to offer equity in return for investments.

It looks as if the difference for investors is that they can in most cases invest as little as $1 in the rewards section but significantly more, say $5,000 in the equity investment side of the equation.

I have been increasingly interested in the crowd funding phenomenon, and have wondered if it will have legs. It’s nice to get a first generation product from a company or some sort of reward for investing a few dollars in a startup, but it has seemed to me that after the initial fun, the appeal would wane.

At least one recent study seems to bear that out when it showed that the average investor in a crowd funding company invests in only two projects, but the whole environment is very new, only being allowed in the United States after a bill was passed last April that enabled a much wider pool of people to invest in startups.

Fundable’s approach, at least to me, has a lot more long term appeal. While getting a Pebble watch for instance would be nice, getting a check larger than my investment might be even nicer.

According to coverage in Mashable it looks like the company needs to get approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission as a broker in order to handle investments and I suspect that is why it is not touting its equity option strongly. I expect that once approval is gained that will change and it will be interesting to see how this move changes the market, if at all.

Filed Under: Apps, Crowdfunder, Fundable, Kickstarter, Startup Tagged With: , ,

Want to Follow the French Open Online or Mobile? Here is how

May 22, 2012 by

The French Open has started today with warmup match play and as with the Australian Open there is a wide range of options for fans looking to follow the tournament played at Roland-Garros that will run until June 10th.

To start with is a very nicely designed web page, that is easy to navigate and clearly explains where you going. There are nice minor touches such as providing the weather in Paris as well as the time. Then there are the more expected features such as listing the draws, providing past scores and live updates, as well as a number of guides to the event, the players as well as a radio feature.

In the Fan Zone there are a number of photo contests including Fan of the Day and Guess Who as well as a daily quiz and regular blog postings. You can follow the Twitter feed at Rolandgarros and of course there is also a Facebook and Google + page as well

For the truly mobile there is an updated free app for both iOS and Android users called Roland-Garros 2012. It features a 3D tour of the facility and has games that users can play and post scores from. Starting on May 25th the app will also provide all the Twitter feed from the stadium, Facebook connectivity and real time statistics.

Also included will be results schedules, draws, news, videos and interviews as well as match alerts for up to 5 players. Included in the video provided will be daily highlights of the day’s events.

For those that have the opportunity to watch matches at home on the television the matches will be carried by a variety of networks in the United States including ESPN 2, NBC, The Tennis Channel and TV5.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, Facebook, Fanatic Fans, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NBC Sports, Tennis, The French Open Tagged With: , , ,
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