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NBC clarifies ‘Old Mac’ problems for Sunday Night Football streaming: Newer OS required

October 8, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

If you are still wondering why you can’t see NBC’s streaming broadcast of its Sunday Night Football games on your Mac, I now have an answer: It’s because you’re running an older operating system, older than Mac OS version 10.7.5.

After a special-to-MSR telephone confab with some technical folks on NBC’s staff last week we quickly rooted out why I was able to see the banners and home page of the Sunday Night online broadcasts but not the live video player: According to the NBC folks, my older iMac and its 10.6.8 version of MacOS isn’t technically up to snuff for the special player NBC is using for the Sunday night show.

New error message shown by NBC’s Sunday Night Football online to older Mac users. Credit: NBC.

Mind you, my not-that-old desktop does just fine showing every other NBC online offering, including the recent live broadcasts of the America’s Cup sailboat races, or the London Olympics. And for those I can use the browser of my choice, usually Chrome and sometimes Firefox. But because of the NFL’s recent deal with Microsoft, NBC is forced to use a different video player for its Sunday Night Football broadcasts. Though they aren’t completely blocked for Mac users who want to watch, they must have a machine with MacOS 10.7.5 or higher, and can only use the Safari browser. I will spare you the HTML5-related details why this is so, to only say that if you have a Mac and you want to watch SNF online, you need to upgrade your OS, make sure you have Safari 6.0.5 or higher, and turn off any ad-blocking utilities.

Is it worth the pain for you to upgrade your OS? I have no idea how you’d exactly go about doing so, I’ve looked at a few online tutorials but really it’s just not worth it for me (I think there is also a $19.99 charge from Apple for the software). I don’t blame NBC here, I actually can’t praise them enough for marshaling some pretty impressive resources to find the root of the problem for our humble little outlet and our devoted, passionate readers. After our inquiries, NBC also started showing the error message above to users of older Mac platforms, so they wouldn’t wander in the dark questioning their own sanity, like I did for the first few weeks of the season.

Instead I point the finger at the Shield and at Microsoft, for forging some deal that alienates some users solely so that the NFL can spend some more Microsoft cash, and so Microsoft can strike a blow against Apple that it can’t do in open competition. Bravo. Fan first, you know.

If I may editorialize a bit, I would say that the NFL gets away with cutting these bad-for-fan deals (like the exclusive deal with Verizon for NFL Mobile) because it’s so big and powerful that it can. What other entertainment outlet would cut a deal that would only allow 1/3 of the U.S. mobile phone customer base to watch their product? And what about when that service goes kablooey and there’s nobody explaining why? And the Microsoft deal, which cuts off older Mac customers from Sunday night football now and who knows what else in the future, is just another greed-driven strategic ploy that only benefits the NFL and Microsoft, and does nothing for fans.

It will be interesting to see what happens as the NFL moves more toward an MLB-type offering for online video and highlights, a move that we foresee even though we don’t have any solid evidence of it yet. Will the NFL cut deals to restrict access to selected hardware or software platforms? Is this a return to the bad old days of browser cutoffs? Is there a Net Neutrality argument in here somewhere?

Extreme thoughts, maybe, but who would have thought that in 2013 we’d see an entertainment outlet as popular as the NFL limit the capabilities of one technological platform versus another simply because it was paid to do so? And not just once, but several times? Aren’t we paying enough for football as it is? Or should we just get used to paying more, because we have no choice and apparently no seat at the table?

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apple, AT&T, NBC Sports, NFL, NFL Mobile, NFL Network, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: Apple, iMac, iPad, Microsoft, Mobile Sports Report, NBC, NBC Sports, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Sunday Night Football, Verizon, watching football online, Windows

Friday Grab Bag: Fenway Boots, Fox vs. ESPN

October 4, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

Nokia is starting to sound like a punch line from a Monty Python movie “I’m not dead yet.” While many have given up on the company it is still churning out products and is expected to unveil its first tablet later this month.

According to Yahoo a Nokia tablet has passed FCC approval and the company, soon to be owned my Microsoft, plans to show a tablet that will run a version of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system at an event in Abu Dhabi.

The difference between ESPN and Fox Sports Live
The good folks at the Sports Business Daily have broken down the difference between the two sports broadcasters, looking at how each o them present the biggest sporting events of the day, using last Monday night as the benchmark.

Not surprisingly ESPN led off with the NFL Monday night game that it had just concluded broadcasting while Fox focused on the MLB playoffs. As usual ESPN pretty much ignored hockey.

L.L. Bean makes Fenway Park boots
LL Bean now has something that only a die hard Red Sox fan could want, boots that are made, in part, from the tarp that was used to cover the field at Fenway Park during the 2012 season. 100 pairs are expected to be produced.

However the made to order boots are not available on a first come/first serve basis. The company is having fans visit Facebook/LL Bean site and share their favorite moments for a chance to win with 50 selected at random. There are additional avenues a fan can enter, to be announced at a later date.

Nike sets date for NikeFuel Forum
If you are an athlete, or maybe not one, but use the NikeFuel band to track you exercise and caloric output you will be happy to know that the company will be hosting an event in New York City that will discuss how it sees the digital world and physical activity merging.

This market, slow to emerge over the last few years has really jump-started with the news of wearable appliances such as Samsung’s Galaxy Gear and rumored other smartwatches as well as the Google Glass and rival efforts. It will be interesting to see how the company plans to compete going forward.

McAfee to deliver device that thwarts NSA?
Antivirus developer John McAfee has a new target in sight, preventing the NSA or any agency from snooping on your online activities. He has developed a product that he calls “Decentral” to do this.

The small device can be used with smartphones and other mobile devices to create a type of mobile network that cannot be penetrated by government surveillance. He said it will cost around $100.

New iPad to outsell last edition?
With Apple’s newest iPads expected to be unveiled in the near future analysts are back predicting how sales will be and KGI is saying that the new iPad 5 will far out pace the new iPad Minis, at least initially.

Market research firm KGI has said that it expects about 10 million iPad 5s sold in the fourth quarter compared to 2 million Minis. There has been a great deal of speculation that the Mini production is slow getting going and that supplies will be limited.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, Fox Sports, iPad, Major League Baseball Tagged With: ESPN, Fox Sports, LL Bean, McAfee, Nike, Nokia

Emetic latest with low cost tablet

October 2, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

Ematic has joined the tablet fray with an 8-inch Android-based offering as the market continues to heat up in the short term and Android tablets overtake Apple’s iPad in market share, just prior to Apple’s expected revamping of its own tablet offerings.

The Ematic 8” Pro Series tablet is a low cost alternative to many of the rivals in this space be they running Apple, Android or Microsoft operating systems. The 8-inch tablet has a $130 price tag, putting it under almost all rivals in this space.

The tablet runs the Android 4.1 operating system (Jelly Bean) and features an 8-inch 1024 x 768 resolution display with 1GB RAM, an ARM 1.6GHz dual core processor with 8GB of storage that is expandable to 32GBs via a microSD card. It comes with 5GBs of cloud storage and there is also a 2MP back and 0.3 MP front facing cameras. For those that want to stream to a television it has HDMI output.

The competition in the tablet space has been fierce and is expected to stay that way, at last now that new platforms are here or on the way. Amazon and Google have both recently refreshed their offerings and Apple is expected to do so later this month.

Sales slowed in the last quarter, attributed to lack of new models from the major players, according to research firm IDC.

However once you have one tablet a second one often makes sense and I can see the low cost providers starting to surge as they offer a great deal of what the larger, better known players offer. Into this space developers such as Ematic should find a sweet spot.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: Amazon, Android, Apple, Ematic, Google, Microsoft, Tablet

NBC’s Sunday Night Football Fails Continue for Mac Users; UPDATE: Problem Diagnosed

September 29, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

UPDATE, 9/30: After a quick call with NBC’s tech folks Monday the problem was discovered: Due to new HTML5 code NBC is using that is specific to its Sunday Night Football broadcasts, Mac users need to have MacOS version 10.7 or higher installed to see the player. Like many users who haven’t been able to see the Sunday Night online broadcasts, my machine is running Mac OS 10.6.8. There is no workaround, so to watch Sunday Night Football on a Mac you will need to upgrade your OS, which costs $19.99. Here is a link to Apple support spelling out the details, if anyone has done this recently and wants to share the steps, send me an email and I will print it in a separate blog post.

Until someone explains to us why this is happening, we’re going to keep reporting that it appears that online streaming of NBC’s Sunday Night Football isn’t working for a lot of people with Apple Macintosh computers.

Just teasing! The program never really begins.

An NBC spokesperson this week had promised to put us in touch with someone from their technical team, but we never got another message back, so another Sunday night we are stuck without football on our computer. What’s even more ironic tonight is that for the first time some video did appear — but it was just an ad for Google Chrome, which of course, NBC doesn’t support this football season if you are a Mac user. You need to use Safari. But for us and several folks commenting to our site, it still isn’t working. For me, the Google ad played and then the screen went back to black.

Instead of Sunday night football, this is what I see. Anyone else having these problems? Add a comment, maybe we can get NBC to realize something ain’t right.

At first I thought there might be some error on my end but I checked my configurations with the FAQs on the NBC site and my machine is up to speed. Plus, I am able to watch plenty of non-NFL coverage, including the excellent coverage of the final race of the America’s Cup. Great stuff, live on my computer. But for some reason the NFL broadcasts aren’t working.

I’m going to lay the blame here at the feet of Microsoft, since it is apparently the Microsoft-NFL deal that is responsible for the disabling of Macintosh computers. Didn’t Microsoft once lose an antitrust suit designed in part to keep it from using its economic might to squash competing technologies? Someone get me Google’s legal team on the line.

Arrgh, now we’re back to the super fail screen.

Filed Under: Apple, Microsoft, NBC Sports, NFL Tagged With: Apple, iMac, Macintosh, Microsoft, Mobile Sports Report, NBC, NBC Sports, Paul Kapustka, Sunday Night Football

Friday Grab Bag: MLB Looks at iBeacon

September 27, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

In the last few weeks Microsoft has been very good at starting rumors with its vague comments about potential new directions and the latest is that it might be looking at delivering a Phablet that runs the unpopular Windows RT operating system.

As reported by Slash Gear, Microsoft vice president Terry Myerson speaking at the company’s financial analyst meeting last week said that the distinction between a phone and a tablet is blurring and that has seen the growth of the Phablet space.

Google’s Balloon idea about to pop?
Much has been made about Google’s plan to launch a series of balloons to provide Wi-Fi-around the globe in an effort called Project Loon. Now Per Lindstrand has come out against the program calling it ‘a waste of time.’

If you are unfamiliar with Lindstrand he was Richard Branson’s partner as they sought to fly a balloon around the world. He said that he expects the balloons to eventually all gather at the North or South Pole.

MLB gives iBeacon a trial run
One of the features in Apple’s recently released iOS 7 operating system is something called iBeacon. It is a technology that is designed to address the shortcomings that GPS suffers from when used indoors.

Now MLB has demonstrated the potential of the technology for use at ballgames and has the potential to bring fans to within 10 feet of their destination, not within the ½ mile that is how much a GPS can be off. No word yet if it will incorporate it in its At the Ballpark app, but keep an eye out next season.

Wall Street misses on Apple iPhone sales
The day that Apple released its latest generation iPhones the naysayers were out in force. The company has lost its mojo, CEO Cook is not inventive enough, the new phones are a dud and on and on as the stock, which had soared prior to the rollout started to sink.

The market put sales of the new phones in the 6 to 7.5 million range and just a week later Apple is breaking the 10 million unit barrier and phones are on backorder. In addition the company told Wall Street to expect quarterly earnings to be at the high end of the range it had previously announced. Mojo rising I guess.

Intel invests in Google Glass rival
Recon Instruments, which has been making wearable technology for some time has announced that Intel has come on board as a significant investor, although the sum has not been revealed. Recon makes Heads-up Displays for sports.

Recon has a number of partners including Oakley and has been shipping, and selling the devices at a number of outlets worldwide, including Apple Stores. Recon said that so far it has shipped over 50,000 devices.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 ship date set from Sprint
Sprint has announced that it will be shipping the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 on Oct. 4. So fans of the very popular phone can start getting in line soon. The real good news for many will be that it comes with an Unlimited Data Guarantee for life.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, Google, Intel, Intel Capital, iOS, iOS 7, iPhone, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, Surface, Windows 8 Tagged With: Apple, Google, Google Glass, Intel Capital, iPhone, Microsoft, MLBAM

Amazon Refreshes Kindle Lineup-Meet the Kindle Fire HDX

September 25, 2013 by Paul Kapustka

Amazon has brought out its next generation Kindle Fires with new models that have greater resolution, faster processors and in one case the ability to hit a button and get help for issues that may be plaguing the tablet.

The company has also started to take the tablet battle into a new space — the enterprise — as it has added what it calls enterprise and productivity features as tablets are increasingly seen as replacements for PCs in the corporate environment.

The Kindle Fire HDX will be available in both a 7-inch and 8.9-inch model and are both powered by Qualcomm’s 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, which the company said was 3x faster than what powered its older models.

The company has also increased the pixels per inch to 2560 x 1600 on the 8.9-inch and reduced its weight 34% to 13.2 ounces while the 7-inch model has 1920 x 1200 resolution. The amount of RAM has been doubled to 2GB and they have a new graphics subsystem for faster gaming. There are a host of additional features including longer battery life and improved cameras.

An interesting feature is the “Mayday Button” that is in the Quick Settings. It calls up an Amazon expert on the device who can walk you through a feature or issue. This feature is available 24/7/365.

One area that the company has created a technology that will likely both further differentiate its products and help open new markets is its Fire OS 3.0 “Mojito” operating system that couples the Android operating system environment with Amazon-only features and cloud coverage.

Mojito may be a strong tool for the company to establish itself in the corporate environment where the “Bring your own device” (BYOD) mentality is becoming strongly entrenched. It has a number of features targeted directly at the enterprise including encryption, Kerberos support for intranet access, secure Wi-Fi, and a native VPN client, among other capabilities.

The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX starts at $379 for 8 GB of memory, while the 7-inch starts at $229 also with 8 GB. Buyers can pre-order starting Sept. 25. The 7-inch will ship Oct. 18, while the 8.9-inch will ship starting Nov. 7. There will also be new colored covers that will be available in seven shades and cost between $45 and $70.

Older models have seen their price cut as the new models come on line with entry-level 7-inch tablet, the Kindle Fire HD with 8GB, to $139 from a $199 version that had 16 GB model.

It will be interesting to see how these models compare with the forthcoming iPads from Apple, widely expected sometime next month. The drive for the corporate space could catch Apple unprepared, and it will be interesting to see what Apple’s message will be when it takes its turn on stage. The corporate push is also where Microsoft has been positioning its Surface Pro tablets for some time, and it just recently announced the latest generation platforms.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, iPad, Kindle, Samsung, Surface, Tablets, Wi-Fi, Windows 8 Tagged With: Amazon, Apple, iPad, Kindle Fire HDX, Microsoft, Surface Pro