EQUIPMENT
The Pope: I’m On A Boat!
Posted by admin in EQUIPMENT on 05-09-11 No Comments

Pope Benedict XVI In Venice And In A Gondola. First time in 25 Some Odd Years. via Getty Images
Blum managed to see a bit of nautical and technological history yesterday in Venice.
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI traveled in a gondola from St Mark’s Square — the center of city — across the mouth of the Grand Canal to the Basicalla of Santa Maria Della Salute. And Jonathan was there to watch.
The Pope had is own special gondola imported for the trip. Most importantly it is white. Most others, particularly those used in professional service in Venice, are black. And it features a different shape, more furniture and an utterly unique bow feature — a sort of giant ornate cloud of gold. Remarkable.
The cool thing is, the Pope took this gondola trip as part of a meeting with members of commerce. It looks like Benedict takes getting out and about seriously.
Belt Drive Porn: Some More Photos
Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 05-04-11 No Comments

The guts of the drive hub. 8 gears are in that big drum in there. Worked fine. But I missed the 22 gears on a modern chain set
Chainless Belt Drive Bike Rocks City Streets
Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 05-04-11 No Comments
Looks like the age of the bike chain is coming to an end.
I got to ride a way-cool new bike technology called belt drives. The bike maker Spot Brand, out of Golden, Colo., sent over a demo Ajax belt drive model (about $1,700), and I took it on a 40-some-odd mile ride as part of the 5 Boro Bike Tour here in New York.
Aside from being darn nice to look at, if you look carefully at Spot’s drive train — that is down there by the pedals — you will see there is no chain. Rather, the bike is driven by a belt similar to what you find in on a Harley-Davidson. Not bad.
Overall, after 40 miles on the bike, I found the technology had real merit. It is smooth, fast and very clean. Hey, there is no grease on a chain to get on your pants, although I will say that after eight hours on the bike, I missed having the 20 gears of a chain drive to help my sorry butt climb over the Verrazano-Narrows bridge. Which is really big by the way.
Still, belt drives are pretty darn sweet. A full story will go up on TheStreet.com later this week.
Here is the link for Spot Bikes.
The Sport Science Guy Is On ESPN On Monday
Posted by admin in EQUIPMENT on 04-30-11 No Comments

via espn.com
If we here in sports geekdom have a legit rock star, its John Brenkus host of Sports Science over on ESPN. Sports Science is the Entertainment Tonight of the of the sports tech world: A lush, highly produced show the lenses in the all things techish in sports. And it is a fav here in the Blum household.
He is going to be doing his monthly appearance this Monday on Sports Nation at 3:00 ET.
Worth checking out.
Sports Tech Comes To Campus
Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 04-26-11 No Comments
Sports Nerds In Queensland figure out Facebook
This sports technology thing is getting serious. Yet another major university announced a sophisticated sports technology program.
The folks at the Sport and Biomedical Engineering program at the Centre for Wireless Monitoring and Applications at the Queensland Academy of Sport have decided to expand a program to develop mass-market wireless devices that can be used to enhance performance.
Too early to really figure out what they are up to. But clearly universities are looking to cash in on the sports technology wave, just like everybody else.
Metal Core Golf Ball Ready To Make Golf Fun Again
Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 04-25-11 No Comments
Starting in mid-May, all of us duffers might suddenly think of playing a round or two of golf.
Buffalo-based OnCore Technologies announced that it will be shipping a hollow metal core golf ball. The company claims this new ball is the only one like it on the market — which sounds like of a bit of an overstatement to me. Metal core golf balls have been around since, well, there has been metal.
But the ball looks to be a decent idea. For sure it will add distance and accuracy to the average golfer’s game — never mind that Mighty Mike Austin’s record 515-yard drive might go 600 yards with one of these. For golf doinks like you and me, the new ball means we will stand a better chance of hitting a reasonable 75-yard tee shot.
Actually, now that I am thinking about it, this would be pretty cool: Unlimited golfing. Any equipment. Any ball. Any performance-enhancing drug. No holds barred: How far can you drive it? That’s golf I would watch.
Here is OnCore’s website and press release.
Carnegie Mellon: No Football Team, But Plenty Of Gridiron Geeks
Posted by Seth in EQUIPMENT on 04-25-11 No Comments
We may not have a 2011 NFL season, but if the game has a future, a college that doesn’t even have a football team has a bunch of innovations in the works.
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh has a football engineering program, and they’re developing some pretty cool stuff. They’ve got a smart jersey equipped with sensors on the arm and the side, aimed at helping coaches figure out which players aren’t carrying the ball properly in order to decrease fumbles.
They’ve got a smart helmet equipped with a camera that feeds first-person video to a mobile device, so coaches can see what the players see. This one could be especially useful as a training tool for quarterbacks, helping them get on the same page with the QB coach or offensive coordinator.
Then there’s the smart ball, equipped with a microprocessor that wirelessly relays information about the position of the ball on the field. You know those two guys with sticks linked together by a 10-yard-long chain? Surely in the 21st Century we can do better than that. And how about on those pile-up plays at the goal line? Do you really think any of the seven officials on the field can actually see whether the ball broke the plane with all those bodies in the way? All you need is the smart ball. Problem solved.
We need more of this kind of technological development in sports. Keep an eye out for more innovations coming from CMU.
Getting A Patent On The Chop Block
Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 04-22-11 No Comments
Looks like the folks over at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office have finally figured out how to make themselves useful. They granted a neat new patent to an electrical engineer out in San Jose who has developed a vest that accurately senses blows to the body.
The technology uses the usual-suspect wireless transmitters, impact sensors and processing to make it super clear to taekwondo judges when impact has been made during a bout.
The idea is to get the new tool into the 2012 Olympic Games.
I read about this in the — get ready for it — print edition of Scientific American, and then dug it up on here online.
Video For Easton-Bell’s Pitcher’s “Vader Lid” Revealed
Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 03-10-11 No Comments
Earlier this week, helmet maker Easton-Bell released a prototype of a wrap-around helmet that fits over a player’s baseball cap. Pretty cool.
I dug up the corporate video of the news event. The company brought out 17-year-old senior Gunnar Sandberg to demo the thing. Gunnar knows helmets. The kid was beaned with a line drive and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital in a coma. Pretty not cool.
What is interesting about this press conference is that the questions and issues raised show the challenges anybody faces in rolling out a new bit of safety gear. Who’s going to wear it? Will the thing work? Most importantly, does it look stupid?
Innovating in sports is never easy.
Sony Hedges 3D Bet, Purchases Tech Firm Hawk-Eye Innovations
Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT, STADIUM, TELEVISION on 03-08-11 No Comments
Here’s an interesting piece of sports production news: Sony has gobbled up goal-line analysis firm Hawk-Eye Innovations. According to The Financial Times, Sony did not say how much it paid for the company, but the publication reported that an analyst told them the firm was worth $32 million, which sounds about right.
A couple of interesting things here:
- It’s amazing how little real companies are worth. Considering that a complete bucket of nuts and bolts, like The Huffington Post fetches something nuts like a $350 million valuation even though it most certainly makes less than Hawk-Eye, Sony got a hell of a deal here.
- 3D is turning into a long bet: Sony is investing in a traditional sports infrastructure company at roughly the same time it is rolling out 3D. It was announced today that Wimbledon will be broadcast in 3D using Sony’s gear. Clearly a company of Sony’s size can both buy a small company and roll out 3D at the same time. But it is telling that basic sports technologies will have serious legs.
Either way, sports tech remains the place to be.
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Episode 73: The TSC Zombies Live!
We celebrate our final show at Hothead Studios by breaking down sports video games from E3; talkin’ through some dang sports video baseball cards and then go getting into the fallout from Derek Boogarrd’s untimely death. Finally, what we have all been waiting for: Dan on latest on with Posada’s crazy, tweeting wife. Share this [...]
Episode 72: Dan’s Cool Rugby Shirt
Blum breaks down 42 miles on a bike with no chain. Evans reports on the Oprah/Nike summit. Dan’s got a rugby johns he would like to share. And some high tech tricks to baseball scouting. (26.8 KB, 27.10 Minutes) Share this post:ShareEmailPrintStumbleUponRedditDigg
Episode 71: The NFL For President!
Dan breaks down the body blow online poker just took from regulators. Blum talks up the new book about what the NFL has to teach capitalism. Seth hates yet another video game. And finally ESPN on your iPad. (25.3 mb, 25.4 minutes) Share this post:ShareEmailPrintStumbleUponRedditDigg
Episode 70: “Are You Ready to Rumble?”
MLB TV’s online service is legitimately cool. The Masters will be a non-event online. Tiger Woods plays with crappy equipment and Blum compares betting on Wrestlemania to trading corn futures. Share this post:ShareEmailPrintStumbleUponRedditDigg
Episode 69: “A Podcast Unlike Any Other”
The organizers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar seek to bend nature to their will with artificial clouds. Blum gloats over the NCAA Selection Committee’s epic seeding failures. Blackberry “Super” Apps underwhelm and Dan takes a crack at the new Masters video game. Share this post:ShareEmailPrintStumbleUponRedditDigg
Episode 68: “Revenge of the Nerds”
Seth and Blum mix it up with MIT over sports data. Dan reviews EA’s Fight Night Champion (virtual boxing is better than the real thing). Amar’e Stoudemire’s goggles get explained and the guys tour some physical fitness web sites. All that, plus, the week in review. Share this post:ShareEmailPrintStumbleUponRedditDigg
Episode 67: “Follow the Bouncing Blum”
Dan’s on the injured reserve this week, so Blum’s flying solo (with an assist from Seth the Tech Nihilist). In this episode: Seth breaks down March Madness On Demand, Blum wonders what gives with the crap-tastic apps that are dominating college athletics, a look into the NFL’s financial picture, plus the week in review at [...]
Episode 66: “It’s Hockey Night Tonight!”
It’s all hockey all the time for this week’s episode. Dan and Blum look at the cross-border battle between the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic as well as the Buffalo Sabres ownership change. Dan and Seth the Tech Nihilist reminisce about the classic NHL video games. Plus, how did a trade between the Stars and [...]
Episode 65: “Take This Job and Shove It”
Blum pitches his wild-eyed plan for NFL players to use social media to circumvent ownership. Seth the Tech-Nihilist gives his report on the new MLB.Com. Dan reviews NHL ’11 (it’s awesome) and digs into some racing tech at Daytona. Share this post:ShareEmailPrintStumbleUponRedditDigg
Episode 64: “Jets Fans are Damaged Individuals”
As Blum gloats, Dan lets the Jets know they can go straight to hell. Also, the best televisions for your Super Bowl party; Dan discovers Broadcast HD; Blum shares his illicit passion for wooden baseball bats; PLUS, the best sports e-books for your e-reader. Share this post:ShareEmailPrintStumbleUponRedditDigg






