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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Judge Kills Patent Suit- Wave of the Future?

June 11, 2012 by

One of the many patent lawsuits from around the globe has been canceled by the presiding judge, although this may not end the case. In an Apple/Google lawsuit Judge Richard Posner has entered a tentative order dismissing the case because he believes that neither party can establish relief.

According to Foss Patents, which had previously speculated that this might occur, this is more likely a bigger setback to Google, but that it will take future court cases to see if that is true. One of the more interesting aspects of this ruling is the esteem with which Judge Posner is held in legal circles and his apparent disgust with the two companies and the patent system. I wonder if this is a trend that will continue going forward as judges try to clear up the huge logjam of patent cases?

Android not ready for quad core?
It appears Intel is complaining about the poor performance of the Android operating system when used on devices that feature quad core processors, according to the Android Guys. It seems that the guys at Intel are not so much complaining about the OS but rather the chips that it runs on in the smartphones.

It should be noted of course that virtually all of those chips are made by rivals, and that Intel is just now selling its processors t developers that create smartphones. In addition Intel does not currently offer a quad core in this space.

Will Windows Phone win out?
A recent study by market research firm IDC predicts the demise of the Android phone and the ascendency of the Windows Phone by 2016. The report predicts that Android phones will still be the dominate operating system over tge next 5 years but that its market share will peak this year.

Apple’s iOS operating system is expected to continue to grow, albeit at a slower rate than in the past. The winner over the next five years will be Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, which it claims will gain a 16% market share over the next few years.

Not everybody is on board with this bold prediction however, and a number of pieces have been published questioning the predictions. One that took the time to examine past IDC predictions with the subsequent results was run in The Street.

RIM kills one model of BlackBerry PlayBook
Research in Motion has killed its 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook tablet as the mobile device developer continues to find footing in the new market for connected devices. The company said that while it remains committed to the market overall it would discontinue the 16GB version but would continue to ship the 32GB and 64GB versions. A new generation of tablets is expected from RIM later this year.

Adding insult to injury in Oracle/Google case
A judge has ordered Oracle to pay Google’s legal fees after the outcome of Oracle’s patent and copyright suit against the search giant did not go its way. Apparently Judge William Alsup had told Oracle that if it brought the case to court (it had failed twice before) that it would have to pay Google’s expenses, which apparently ran to $300,000.

Facebook’s app center opens
Facebook has officially opened its App Center and already has 600 apps available for Facebook users. The center is operating system agnostic and so there are apps for Android, iOS and others available. The purpose of the center is to encourage app developers to create programs that use Facebook as its front end, helping it in the mobile space.

Motorola, others violate RF patent?
EETimes is reporting that the International Trade Commission is investigating the use of select RF chips by Motorola Mobility, HTC Corp. and RF Micro Devices. The complaint was brought by Peregrine Semiconductor that claims that chips used by the companies violated its patents.

Mobile Apps in New York this month
If you happen to be in New York City and are interested in mobile technology, specifically mobile apps, then the Mobile App Showdown might be right up your alley. The two day showcase starts the 25th but if you want to vote online for the best app you can go online on June 15th and cast your vote. It should be interesting t see what direction the voting takes.

LinkedIn stops collecting calendar data
It appears that one of the fallouts from LinkedIn’s security breach that led to the loss of 6.5 million passwords was the revelation that the professional networking site had been surreptitiously collecting data from the private calendars of its members, at least iPad and iPhone users. The company has now said that it will discontinue that practice.

Asus PadFone hits the States
It looks like the Asus PadFone, a mobile device that combines a smartphone with a tablet to make a platform that can be used as a single product or separated into two distinct devices has finally made it to the US.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, Facebook, FTC, Google, Research in Morion, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Google Buys Social Chat Developer Meebo

June 5, 2012 by

Google has moved to enhance its Google+ social media site with the purchase of Meebo, an instant messaging and communications company that will bring a host of tools and capabilities and users to Google.

The terms of the deal have so far not been announced although numbers in the $100 million range have been bandied about by TechCrunch and others. Meebo, a seven year old company has raised $70 million in funding over the course of its history. From the post on the Meebo blog it appears that much if not all of its team will be moving over to Google.

A key feature will be the Meebo Bar, a feature that permits users to chat that sits on a number of web pages. This enables advertisers to sit just below an audience of prospective customers. Meebo has a number of other capabilities that will likely find their way to Google+ such as the ability to customize content streams to meet your interests.

The addition of the Meebo audience, estimated at approximately 100 million users, will also be a big boost if many come over to Google +, which has an estimated 170 million users, still a far cry from rival Facebook’s almost 1 billion users.

Google+ has been growing steadily since it was introduced but when we talk to or visit sports teams they only have a focus on Facebook. Rarely do I see a site that also promotes Google+ as well, although this is occurring more frequently. Hopefully this and additional efforts by Google will fix that issue since with more competition I believe we will see better apps and web pages.

Filed Under: Apps, Facebook, Google, Meebo, Startup Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Tablets and Tradeshows

June 4, 2012 by

With the growth of apps that can read and transmit data files such as contact lists improved security is becoming increasingly important. A new security app has come on the scene from mobile security developer SentrySP that seeks to prevent your smartphone from giving away your personal information.

The company’s SentrySp InSight app tracks all operational transmissions from a smartphone it is installed on and looks for transmissions that have the characteristics of an unauthorized transmission, and when it finds one it alerts the owner.

Steve Jobs to speak at trial
Quotes from the late Steve Jobs that were given to biographer Walter Isaacson will be allowed in a patent trial between Apple and Motorola, Chicago Federal Judge Richard Posner has ruled. The book had some pretty strong quotes about the lawsuit and it will be interesting to see how they are used in the trial.

A good look at Facebook’s rise
While the continued poor performance of Facebook’s stock is a source of a steady stream of articles and OP-ED pieces, Nielsen’s takes a different path and has a nice piece on the rise of the social media giant and how far and strong its reach is today.

Among the tidbits in the article are some very interesting facts. It passed Myspace as top social network site in January 2009 and by March 20012 it had 152 million unique U.S. visitors representing two out of three Americans that were online during that time.

Apple wins standards battle
It looks like Apple will emerge victorious in setting the requirements for the next generation SIM that is called the nano-SIM. The new standard is expected to be 40% smaller than the current SIM card design that is popular in mobile devices such as digital cameras and smartphones.

Apple beat rivals Nokia, Research in Motion and Motorola Mobility which had submitted a rival standard to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to get the standard approved. Officially called fourth form factor (4FF) it will be backwardly compatible with existing SIM card designs.

Judge rules Java API’s not copyrightable
In what could be one of the last gasps of the Oracle vs Google battle over Java patents and copyrights; the judge overseeing the case, William Alsup, has thrown out Oracle’s claim that the Java APIs that were used in Android by Google were copyrightable.

Application program interfaces are what allow one piece of code or software to talk to another and this portion of the ruling has been of great concern to the software industry because it has been widely assumed that these were available to all. Oracle has said that it will appeal this decision which concerned 37 APIs.

Big month for conferences
Expect an interesting parade of news this week from the variety of major trade shows and conferences occurring around the globe in the next two weeks. In Taipei there will be the Computex show that is expected to provide a first look at some of the Windows 8 tablets from a variety of hardware developers.

Apple will see Tim Cook take center stage for the first time as Apple’s CEO at its World Wide Developer Conference that will be held in San Francisco from June 11-15. New iPhones or iPads in the wings? Last but not least there is the E3 show down in Los Angeles where the gaming industry will be rolling out some of the next generation offerings and updates on current ones.

Twitter to see $1 billion in ad revenue by 2014?
A report from Bloomberg News claims that Twitter expects to generate an estimated $1 billion in ad revenue by 2014, based on inside information from two sources. The article noted that this would mean that the site would have to grow at double the rate that many market analysts have predicted.

Reports from Pew and others have shown that Twitter has seen steady growth in the last year but nothing like this. The technology has an estimated 140 million users and earned $139.5 million last year.

Appsplit focuses on apps
We have written a good deal about crowd funding and Kickstarter in particular as a way that new products and ideas can get funding and a boost into the market, and idea of this type of funding is increasingly popular as new sites have arisen to play in the market.

One new one, at least to us, is AppSplit, which focuses just on apps. It has a front page that is similar to its rivals, showing a few efforts to get funding, where they stand and how many days left. There are seven platforms that a potential investor can browse; iOS, Mac, Web, Android, Windows and Windows Phone.

Ice Cream Sandwich not hot with Android crowd
A site called Android Developers is reporting that adoption of the Android 4.0 operating system, code named Ice Cream Sandwich, has been very slow among developers. Seven plus months after its release the platform has a paltry 7.1% market share.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Appsplit, Facebook, Lawsuit, Mashable, Smartphone, Startup, Tablets Tagged With: , , , ,

Get Ready for the PGA Cell Phone Backlash — After the Mickelson Memorial Incident

May 31, 2012 by

You don’t have to be a website called Mobile Sports Report to see this storm brewing: The reported bad cell-phone behavior that might have led to Phil Mickelson’s withdrawl from the Memorial Thursday is almost certain to cause a cell phone backlash from the PGA Tour.

Though phones didn’t used to be allowed at tour events — and special tourneys like the U.S. Open (run by the USGA) are pretty damn clear that you can’t even think of bringing a phone or a camera phone on the shuttle bus, much less at the course — many other tour stops are now allowing or even encouraging folks to bring their mobile devices. Check out what went on at the recent HP Byron Nelson tourney down in Texas, where some savvy social media folks turned the knobs up to 11, based on a lot of on-course fan-phone interaction.

Great for marketing. But is it good for the game? It’s clear the “talent” doesn’t think so. And they’re not going to stay quiet about it.

Phil himself is probably too nice and too media-savvy to come right out and say bad things about fans — patrons — whatever you call folks at a golf tournament — but new Masters champion Bubba Watson has no such restraining bolt, and told anyone who was listening that people taking pictures with cell phones was the main reason why Phil got Phed up (and shot his way to a 79).

I’m going to quote the entire report by AP’s Rusty Miller (which we found on the PGA’s site) because it highlights the big, bad point: Apparently a LOT of people were using their cell-phone cameras whenever they pleased, golfers backswings be damned:

DUBLIN, Ohio — Everyone has seen a golfer swivel and angrily stare at a news photographer who accidentally clicked a shutter during a swing.

Now imagine what it’s like when there are 10,000 or even 40,000 people on a golf course, all with cell phones that take pictures.

With a huge gallery following the marquee matchup of Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson in Thursday’s first round of the Memorial, the continual distraction of fans with cell phones may have played a role in Mickelson’s withdrawal from the tournament.

“It took Phil out of his game,” Watson said of the continual clicks and snaps of cell phone-camera shutters. “Phil’s a great player and a great champion and it just took him out of his game. It’s sad. It’s sad that cell phones can make or break a championship.”

Mickelson said the reason he was going home in the wake of a frustrating round of 7-over 79 was because he was tired after a recent trip to Italy and France to celebrate wife Amy’s 40th birthday.

“There were a few phones out there,” Fowler said with a laugh. “There were a few times when we had to back off and reset. You could see Phil was a little fatigued and was having trouble blocking it out a bit.”

Mickelson made the turn at 1 over before struggling. Fowler shot a 71 and Watson, who won the Masters last month, had a 75.

Watson blamed a PGA Tour rule which permits fans to have cell phones on the course — if they are on vibrate and are only used in specified areas.

“Yeah, it was bad. But it’s been pretty bad ever since they made that rule,” Watson said. “When they make these marquee pairings, more people are going to follow them and more people want to take pictures. So it makes it very difficult. Ever since they made that rule that cell phones are allowed, it’s just not fun playing.”

Whoa. On one level you might be tempted to say, get a grip, Bubba. You (and Phil) are playing a game for millions of dollars of someone else’s money… and a cell phone noise is making your life miserable? I mean — baseball players have to hit a ball that is coming at them at 100 mph, not one that is lying still on the grass. And they don’t mind the noise. So… why should golfers have or expect complete silence, when they are playing in a very public arena?

Originally this was my argument on this matter — I think if you try to ban phones again you may end up with nobody at golf tournaments other than the Masters… and maybe the U.S. Open. But I think you also have to recognize tradition and what golf is all about. There’s a certain tranquility that most every golfer expects and loves when they are playing themselves. You don’t have to be Bubba to be pissed off at someone talking on a cell phone on a golf course. So in that sense Bubba is more like the rest of us than some pampered star. So I am admittedly confused now over whether I think the players have grown Colin Montgomerie ears, or whether your average fan is a self-important jerk like the people I see texting while they are driving on the freeway. Maybe, some of both.

Our favorite golf blogger/Tweeter Stephanie Wei was following up on this with cascaded Tweets and a good recap post — basically saying that for some reason there were just a lot of jerks on the phones Thursday. She also believed (like several other golf writers) that Mickelson’s withdrawl was done to make a point — that cell phones shouldn’t be allowed near the field of play. Phil is getting some roasting for his move — basically golf purists here, saying that you don’t WD because you are mad and playing poorly — but Wei makes a great point by saying that even at fan fiesta tourneys like the Waste Management in Phoenix the fans are smarter in how they use their phones. Anyone from Ohio who wants to weigh in here, feel free.

What I expect is that by sometime on Friday we will hear from the PGA loud and clear about how anyone seen using a cell phone in other than “designated areas” is going to be ushered off the grounds. And I’m not sure how I feel about that, other than that this is pretty obviously a clash of the magnitude of the topic as to why we started this site: Technology, especially mobile technology, is crashing into sports in ways nobody really imagined. How does it get solved? That’s the story for tomorrow, the day after, and the day after. Stay tuned on this bat channel, because we’ll be covering it. Maybe via our phones or tablets.

(Some of Stephanie’s Tweets embedded below)

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, AT&T, BlackBerry, Facebook, Golf, PGA, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

GolfGameBook Allows You to Brag in Real Time

May 31, 2012 by

It seems that in the connected world Golf is leading the way. You can get a variety of apps and devices that tell you how far from the ole you are, the course layout and what club you use.

Yet just as there always seems the need for a new club, there is always room for an app that does something slightly different, and that is the space that GolfGameBook is seeking to fill as an interactive online golf community for players. The company has just recently updated the app with several enhanced features.

In some ways the app is similar to others, or at least shares similar basic abilities. You can keep score and get stats on your game using the program, but not just for yourself but you can also include the rest of your group or other friends on that or other courses that use the app.

You can track friends games live at different courses and use the chat feature to comment or use the program to send out invites to your friends for a round. It can design and create leagues and tournaments as well as handle side games. The program stores your game data so you can easily look at past rounds or share them on Facebook.

Available for both Android and Apple iPhones the free app will still face a tough battle in separating itself from the multitude of other apps available relating to golf in the various app stores.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, Golf Tagged With: , , ,

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

May 31, 2012 by

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: , , , , ,
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