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Friday Grab Bag — Jocks Twittering Guide Issue

November 11, 2011 by

No M&M’s in NASCAR
Kyle Busch will be forced to race in the last two Sprint Cup races without his primary sponsor as M&M’s pulls out. This is more of the aftermath of his cheap shot of intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. in the Truck Series two weeks ago. Busch was suspended from racing in the Sprint Cup last week and fined $50,000 by NASCAR. I had always thought that NASCAR encouraged this type of driving, who knew?


Twitter offers advice to Athletes on how to use Twitter
Twitter, which clearly understands how interesting athletes can be on Twitter, has issued an advisory for them on its developer site. The social media company tells them to talk about what they are passionate about, use hash tags, reply back to followers and mention your team mates among other tidbits of sage advice. Also it tells them that if something controversial happens on the field Twitter can help clear the air- no mention that it can also shorten a career, or is that just my take?

Apple releases iOS 5.01 battery fix
Apple has responded to complaints that the latest release of its iOS operating system, iOS 5.0, unnaturally drains batteries of iPhones. The company has released iOS 5.0.1 that has been designed to fix that issue as well as including several other bug fixes for both the phone and the iPad including document syncing via iCloud and improved voice recognition for Australian users.

Will ESPN’s Longhorn Network force a College Playoff?
An Interesting piece from Businessweek discusses how the $300 million, 20 year deal between the University of Texas and the Walt Disney Co. (parent to ESPN for those that are still unaware) was a major tipping point in collegiate athletics. The move led to the huge rash of conference realignments and movements as everybody tries to position themselves to get as much of the money that is on the table for themselves and tradition be damned. I think this line from the article says it all- “It’s greed,” said William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University of Maryland system and co-chairman of the nonprofit Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. “There is so much money on the table that everyone is in a state of panic.”


This week in Lawsuit News
The patent wars continue unabated, which always makes for interesting watching as long as you are not personally at risk. First up is Microsoft which apparently has another target in its royalties pursuit, this time it has its eye on Huawei for Android patent license. Then there is the report that Google will be offering support to Android firms involved in lawsuits. Last but not least is the news that Apple continues Steve Jobs legal pursuit of Android developers for what it perceives as patent violations of its technology. Is this a great time to be a patent lawyer or what?

Major League Baseball to be Lockout Free?
The site MLBtraderumors.com covers a range of reports that indicate that MLB and the Players Union may be well on the road to reaching a new accord without the need for canceling the World Series or some other slap in the fans face. While the NBA is in lockout mode and the NFL just recovering from its labor war it is great news that at least one major league can work like adults well in advance of the expiration of the existing deal to forge a new one. I hope this does work out well.

Adobe throws in the towel on Mobile Flash
Adobe is facing the music and has announced that it will stop developing a version of its Flash technology for mobile devices. The technology has come under fire as Apple had banned its use in its iOS due to what it claimed was it did not meet the needs of a that space, a move that was later followed by Microsoft. At first Adobe fought back but now the company said it will turn its attention to HTML5 and will work with all of the major developers, Apple included, in that space.

From the “Just because it amuses me” Category
Nothing to do with sports, social media or technology but- Did you catch the photo in The Consumerist of a pig-shaped pork roast offered at Costco? Looks like it is ground and then molded pork scraps that are shaped like a baby piglet-somehow I am sure this will not make my dinner table anytime soon but who knows, it could make for a very interesting holiday gift!

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Baseball, ESPN, iPhone, NASCAR, NCAA Football, NFL, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Give Mojo Introduces Trash Talk Sports Social Media Game

November 8, 2011 by

Passion is what sports is all about. Just ask radio host Jim Rome. And that’s what Give Mojo drives at with a new college football sports social media application that allows fans to select a game they want to participate in, and then let loose with competitive commentary.

Called Give Mojo, the game has some interesting twists. After signing up with Facebook or Twitter, the interface allows you to select a specific college football game. When you do, you are placed into a “smack stream.” where you participate in ongoing banter with others in the stream. Comments are virtually identical to Twitter posts, except a favorite comment is a Hi-5 and a retweeted comment is a resmack.

Fans earn points for themselves and their favorite college football team by posting comments on behalf of their team, sharing smack on Facebook and Twitter or buying points through Give Mojo.

Give Mojo is co-founded by Karl Meinhardt, who is best known for developing an e-commerce website for grocery store chain Albertsons. Give Mojo plans to extend its sports social media platform into other arenas, including politics.

Give Mojo is optimized for mobile web browsers, but not distributed as an application. It works with IE9, or the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

“Content is another word for too much crap,” Sports Illustrated Executive Says

November 3, 2011 by

Ford (left) and McDonell

Terry McDonell, Editor, Time Inc. Sports Group, and Mark Ford, president, Time Inc. Sports Group, debuted today in an video interview where they said they didn’t know how Sports Illustrated would monetize its sports social media, and McDonell called “content another word for too much crap.”

Speaking to MeetTheBoss.tv, McDonell and Ford don’t say anything all that different than what sports social media leaders at major print publishing brands are saying today. It is the unfocused nature of the interview that was unusual.

MeetTheBoss.tv focuses on “business challenges that matter today, clearly explaining the solutions, competitive strategies, people, and thinking around them,” but it is also a content provider aimed at aspiring executives. That may help explain the free-wheeling, non-substantive nature of the SI executive’s comments.

The interview underscores that few, if anyone, really knows how to make money on sports content as it flows to smartphones and tablet devices, and just a few basic principles are what business leaders have to go on as they push brands further into the social community space.

In leading the interview, MeetTheBoss.tv points up Sports Illustrated was first to market with a tablet application that delivered a major magazine brand to readers. Later, it brings up the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue was one of the first to include experiential marketing, smartphone, and tablet distribution for a major print product. McDonell said experimenting with sports social media has opened up SI’s corporate structure.

“Specifically at SI everybody basically created new jobs for themselves,” McDonell said. “It got fast and fun. We started inviting everyone from I.T. (information technology) at SI to our parties, and they acted like they had never been invited to a party before. So, they all showed up and then pretty soon they said, “pssstt what about this”…(Pretty soon), we had a real hot unit, and — you know — we haven’t cooled off much.

Then SI’s McDonell says,

“Content” is another word for too much crap. If you can break through that and not have “content” but have something good, people will pay for it.”

In making his “content is another word for too much crap” comment, McDonell plays off a famous line made famous by Sumner Redstone, who is majority owner of  CBS Corporation, Viacom, MTV Networks, BET, and the film studio Paramount Pictures. At the dawn of the Internet as a commercial medium, when everyone was trying to figure out what dot.com meant to media, it was Redstone who famously said “content is king.” Microsoft chairman Bill Gates borrowed the famous line, and wrote an article in 1996 titled “Content is King.” Eleven years later, Redstone wrote in 2007 an article titled “If Content is King, Copyright is Its castle.”

In a section of the interview where McDonell and Ford say SI doesn’t plan to monetize sports social media content, the executives said the focus is on authentic content.

“We have some big-time social media people at Sports Illustrated,” McDonell says. “All that stuff works for us but it is kind of an orchestra coming together. I’m not sure. I’m not sure how we get the money.”

Ford then says,

“We don’t even use that language (referring to money). It is about building an authenticate community and an audience that’s true to the brand. Through that, opportunities will come up..It would be a big mistake to try to monetize that too quickly.”

McDonell adds,

“It is not a community. To be really successful, it has to be beyond community. It has to be tribal. You are building a tribe. And if you are in that tribe, you join that tribe, you want all that tribe stuff.”

Ford then says,

“Terry was in motorcycle gangs up in Northern California, you can tell. It was very tribal. We both love motorcycles.”

You will have to register for an account, but here’s the full interview:

Mark Ford & Terry McDonell Interview

Filed Under: Sports Content Executives, Sports Social Media, Time Inc. Tagged With: , , ,

Monday’s Tech Tidbits — My Battery is Dead Issue

October 31, 2011 by

Ubuntu seeks to storm into Tablet, Smartphone and TV market
Ubuntu Linux is the latest operating system that seeks to establish itself in the growing mobile and smart video market spaces. ZDNet is reporting that the Canonical, the parent company behind the Linux development will announce the move at its Ubuntu Developer Summit in Orlando. First the company plans to bring out a stable version of its Ubuntu 12.04 distribution and then focus on the new segments. However do not hold your breath as it is not expected for at least 3 years.

Forbes publishes a Top 10 list for Tablets-sort of
Forbes has published a Top 10 list for Tablets, combining 7-inch, 9-inch and 10-inch models. Without any commentary as to why the products made the list, any pros and cons or additional points the list is only really helpful if you want the bare bones information on each model.

Have that drained feeling? iPhone 4S users feel your pain
The iPhone 4S seems to have a battery issue that is causing users fits as it starts draining rapidly even when idle. PC World has a list of suggestions to help you make it through the day on a single charge, for your phone that is. Some sites are claiming that the phone just checks the time too much — what it never heard of Popcorn?


Apple buys another mapping firm
According to 9to5Mac Apple has acquired C3 Technologies, a 3D mapping application developer. According to the site this is the third map developer Apple has added to its portfolio since 2008, the other two being Placebase and Poly9, also a 3D mapping company Apparently Apple purchased C3 several months ago and the deal is now coming to light and it is reported that most of the development team and management is intact and still working as a team in Sweden.

Microsoft provides a patent lawsuit primer
I sue you, you sue him he sues me. That seems to be the standard business operation threes days but Microsoft says so what? One of the company’s attorneys’ said that lawsuits for disruptive technology are a time honored tradition and that it intends to enforce its position. An interesting Q&A on the issue in the San Francisco Chronicle.

eWeek embraces digital-what took it so long?
eWeek, and sister publications Baseline and CIO Insight will no longer have print versions starting January 2012. Instead they will be available for Windows Phone 7, Android and iOS phones and tablets. The company said that it will offer the publications in “full suite of optimized suites and native apps.”

Filed Under: Android, Apps, iPad, iPhone Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: HP is Back!

October 28, 2011 by

ViewSonic offers low cost Android tablet
Looking for a low cost tablet? Well ViewSonic wants you to know that it is now in the game with its ViewPad 7e Android tablet. The 7-inch display uses an older version of Android and not the more recent Honeycomb version of the OS but it does have a $200 price tag and includes a 1GHz ARM A8 processor, dual cameras and 4GB storage with a microSD card slot for expansion.

Dodgers blame beating victim
I know that blame the victim is a standard tactic in legal matters but do the Dodgers really believe that they can convince any rational person that Bryan Stow, beaten into a coma at Opening Day at Dodgers Stadium was responsible? It sure looks as if they are going to as part of the owners’ battle with MLB. It couldn’t be the funding siphoned from the team to support the owners’ expensive lifestyle, could it?

ESPN teams with Nokia for sports fans
ESPN has teamed with smartphone developer Nokia to offer a mobile sports technology for the fan on the go. Called the ESPN Hub and slated for release in 2012 it has been specifically designed for the latest generation of Nokia smartphones that run Microsoft Windows operating system. The ESPN Hub will have a different look from other ESPN products and the company claims that it will help make navigation of content smoother and more intuitive. Hopefully this will turn out better than the Mobile ESPN effort from a few years ago.



HP- We are back! Will not leave the hardware business after all.
Hewlett-Packard back in the hardware business, gee we hardly missed you. The company has made an about turn and has decided that it will not spin off its personal computer unit after all. The decision was made by CEO Meg Whitman. The move reverses the proposal put forward by Whitman’s predecessor, ousted CEO Leo Apotheker who announced the move as part of a corporate overhaul. AT the time the company was smarting over the poor sales of its tablet computer, the TouchPad. It now looks like future tablets are in store for the company, but may use the Microsoft OS.

iPad 3 to sport new connectors?
Rumor du jour: C|Net is reporting the possibility that Apple will launch an iPad3 in March and that it might have connector issues. The site, citing another site, reports that it will have a redesigned dock connector that uses the same number of pins as the old one but in a different, and smaller, configuration. The screen is expected to remain the same size and there is now word if it will stay at the current resolution level or move to the Retina Display technology already in use in other Apple products.

Can teams be a bit too touchy about Twitter?
The recent tempest in a teapot comes from Boston where New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski felt obligated to apologize for appearing in photos with BiBi Jones, an adult film star who then posted them on Twitter. It was taken during a bye week and he is free to do as he feels. I wonder how long it will be before Puritan in Chief Roger Goodell issues a ruling on what players can do in their free time?

Filed Under: Android, Apps, ESPN, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Tablets, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Monday’s Tech Tidbits-AT&T loves Wi-Fi!

October 24, 2011 by

Looking for a Wi-Fi hotspot? Well according to AT&T the number has been growing by leaps and bounds as users made 301.9 million AT&T Wi-Fi connections in the third quarter. The biggest growth areas? Stadiums and hospitality facilities.

Motorola Mobility seeks to reestablish Razr with the new Droid Razr, an LTE Android smartphone expected to be released next month. Can the company regain its pre-iPhone glory?

I feel old this morning. Apple’s iPod turned 10 years old last Sunday.

Google delivered Ice Cream Sandwich last week replete with a host of features-the first product with the new OS is Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus. I wonder how developers like it compared to the rival iOS or earlier Android versions?

Looks like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7 Plus tablet is headed to the US. Expect it to cost around $400 for the 16GB version and be available Nov 13th from Best Buy and Amazon, according to Gizmodo.

Apple’s iPad market share has peaked. Apple’s iPad market share is growing. Who do you believe? Speaking of bad iPad news stories are emerging that you can partially hack an iPad2 with a simple magnet.

Microsoft says that it will target the mid-market smartphone segment with future releases of its Windows-based phones. Rumor is that a platform code-named “Tango” is in the works, following up on its current “Mango” release.

Continued bad news for BlackBerry– a study by Enterprise Management Associates shows that 30% of RIM users in enterprises with 10,000 employees or more plans to switch to a different platform.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apps, AT&T, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, Samsung, Tablets, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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