GENERAL


Outdoor Technology Tries For A Sexier Bluetooth

Posted by Alex Dalenberg in GENERAL on 02-23-11    No Comments


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Bluetooth_red_tags_1_540x540Here’s a good headphone option for you joggers and gym rats that like to work out with your mp3 player:  Southern California-based Outdoor Technology has a cool new design for bluetooth earbuds that take their cue from old-fashioned military dog tags. You know, like in Saving Private Ryan.

Instead of having to mess around with a bunch of tangled wires, OT Bluetooth Tags have two earpieces are connected by a sturdy braided wire and hang loosely around the neck when you’re not using them. They’re compatible with any bluetooth enabled device (or can be used with your mp3 player using a bluetooth adapter) with up to 32 inches of range. The tags can be charged from your computer using a mini USB cable and Outdoor Technology says they have a charge life of six hours.

The company also says the new Tags are an upgrade over your traditional bluetooth, style-wise. According to the company’s press release:

“Outdoor Technology, an action sports and lifestyle accessories brand, feels they have tapped into a market that has seen a rapid progression and need for wireless technology that is no longer limited to techno-geeks and business executives.”

Guess we didn’t get the memo that sports tech and techno-geeks were mutually exclusive.




Super Bowl 45, Technology 0

Posted by Jonathan in GENERAL, INTERNET, TELEVISION on 02-07-11    No Comments


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Never mind that The Black Eyed Peas are a cover band, or that the Super Bowl XLV iPad “app” amounted to nothing more than a few maps and interactive location guides, or that NFL.com’s in-game content on Sunday night was easily bested by its content during the regular season. Never mind any of it. Why?

Nobody cares.  This four-hour game was the the most-watched piece of television of all time.

Forget all the cutesy stuff like the fall of the Berlin Wall, the crash of the space shuttle,  the Olympics, or even 9/11. These are all just another episode of Oprah in comparison to Sunday’s game. Super Bowl XLV smoked all of ‘em, and with absolutely no help whatsoever from any new technology, save for super-slow-motion and some nice use of cameras.

I really tried to find a cool next-gen digital spin on this year’s game. But it really wasn’t there. There was nothing interesting that was Web-based or digitally enabled. And truly new tools, like 3D were nowhere near this broadcast.

The fascinating part is that from a valuation and business perspective, the Super Bowl now makes companies like Google and Facebook look like Nick at Night.

Assuming a per-commercial rate of $3 million for 30 seconds, and about 90 minutes of commercial time over the four-hour broadcast, we are talking about a half billion in sales — a number Facebook is lucky to make in a couple of months. Add last night’s game to this list and Super Bowls now account for 11 of the top 20 most-watched broadcasts in U.S television history. Now, some of these games are from years ago, so revenue calculations are tricky, since you have to discount those sales in today’s dollars. But still, we are easily talking $100 billion in total ad sales for the live game — about the same number Google has in the past 5 years.

And that is just for ad revenue. It doesn’t count ticket sales or tie-ins or shoulder programming — nothing else. That’s just what Fox charged to advertise during the game. If you factor those other numbers in, Google and Facebook are not even in the discussion. Can we just end this “Google Economy” nonsense and get on with the future?

It’s the NFL’s world, and we just live in it.




Three Days With The Daily: Murdoch Opts Out Of The Web Sport Content Slum

Posted by Jonathan in GENERAL on 02-04-11    No Comments


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via slashgear

via slashgear

If there is any reason to hope the Internet content slum will not entirely take over all of journalism, Rupert Murdoch’s new The Daily news service is making a statement for quality news products in the digital age.

We’ve been tinkering with this service for the last three days. What we’ve seen is far from perfect — editorially this thing doesn’t quite know where it is — but from a technological perspective, The Daily’s sports coverage is pretty darn cool.

The bulk of the information here is sort of Sports Illustrated light features. Mixed in with those are ESPN-like video segments and some chats. There are nice bits of multimedia on what the gambling lines are for various games and the key plays and formations to look for in Sunday’s Super Bowl. And, of course, there’s a mix of blog and web content. There was also an interactive feature on the history of the Super Bowl that I liked.

Think of it as a a weekly magazine revved up to the fast-twitch era so that it’s up to date and relevant every day.

But the real value add here is that it is a digital news experience that does not seek to rip off the reader or the rest of the web. There is none of the let’s-do-more-with-less mentality most blogs and web content services see as progress. Stories are legitimate stories: well-formed, well-written and well-presented in a format that is protected and well-organized.

What a relief from the wide-open slum that is the web.




Ferrari’s New Formula One Car Off To Bad Start

Posted by Dan in GENERAL on 02-04-11    No Comments


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car fireThis week Ferrari has been testing its new Formula One car, the  F150, and all went well on Tuesday and Wednesday.

And then there was Thursday.

After 200 laps of testing this week,  things went very wrong.  The car began to leak a serious amount of oil and then burst into flames. I’m no Formula One expert but I’m pretty sure that races last more than 200 laps. Ferrari blames a broken clamp for the problem, but this is definitely not going to help the company. The racing establishment already doubts the performance and quality of Ferrari’s engines. Check out the picture.




Advanced Curling Technology For The Masses

Posted by Dan in GENERAL on 02-03-11    No Comments


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Equalizer!!For all of you amateur curlers out there looking to gain an edge in your next local league match, you are in luck.  The Equalizer brush head is now available for the masses. The broom was developed by the University of Western Ontario at a cost of $8 million in a buildup for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Equalizer is an advanced broom that creates more heat and allows the sweeper to move that rock even further.

The Canadian Olympic team didn’t use the technology last year because it turns out they really didn’t need it. But for the casual curler it will drastically improve your game. I’d compare this new technology to an aluminium baseball bat. David Ortiz has no need to use one, but a beer league softball player uses one every week.  The best thing is this new tech is cheap. Try the new broom out for $30.




*SPOILER ALERT* Madden 2011 Releases Name Of This Year’s Super Bowl Winner

Posted by Jonathan in GENERAL on 02-03-11    No Comments


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steelersDamn. I guess the helmet kind of gives it away. Sorry if you were planning on actually watching the game.

Anyway, the Pittsburgh Steelers will win Super Bowl XLV, beating the Green Bay Packers 24-20, according to EA Sports, which did its annual simulation of the big game using Madden 2011. Of course, this is crap because you could run the simulation again and again until you achieve your desired result, but Madden is such a football staple that this story will always make the rounds in the endless run-up to the Super Bowl.

So consider this our due diligence. You can even find box scores and analysis for the fake game here.

To give Madden its due, the official simulation has correctly predicted six of the last seven Super Bowl winners, missing only the Giants’ upset victory against the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. So this is something like the opposite of the dreaded Madden Curse.

More importantly, Madden has the Steelers winning in regulation, which means Papa John’s won’t have to make good on its promise of free pizza if the game goes into overtime, which has to be the best Super Bowl promotion of the last 10 years. Read the fine print, though: To have a chance at cashing in on the deal you have to go to the  Papa John’s website and sign up for its online rewards program before by midnight Saturday.

I gotta say, if you’re the CEO of Papa John’s, is this just your way of making the Super Bowl a little more interesting for yourself?

I bet all of America free pizza that this game won’t go into overtime.

Dude could just go to Vegas.

Not that it’s much of a bet. No Super Bowl has ever gone into overtime, and according to Madden this one won’t either.

But I guess that’s why we, like, actually play the game.




Forget the Super Bowl: The NFL Social Bowl Could Tip Negotiations In Players’ Favor

Posted by Jonathan in GENERAL on 02-01-11    No Comments


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All I am going to say about the upcoming labor strife in the NFL is this: Don’t count out the players.

How did it happen that it is all doom and gloom for the almost-certain-to-be-locked-out  NFL players? There are the billions of dollars in guaranteed TV money coming from the networks that will give the owners an insurmountable war chest. There is the bizarre anti-union vibe in U.S. now. And nobody seems to care that if the owners have their way and expand the regular season from 16 to 18 games, the average player will be playing two more games per season and will get paid something nutty like 35 percent less for the privilege.

But that, friends, ignores the power of the wacky little thing called the web.

For all the NFL’s bombast, at its core a good game of football is just that — a good game. So the question becomes, how hard can it be to have a good game? The answer is, just like everything else in the digital age, not really that hard at all.

There are any number of web-based event organizing tools that could quickly and easily stitch together the various assets needed to host a viable professional football game. Just take a look at generic event services like Certain and Thriva that streamline the process of organizing sport events. There are sports-specific game organizing firms like Active Sports Network that can bring in the complex assets of creating and televising sporting events. Many leagues already organize online. Here is Compete at Curling, where a bunch of shivering Canadians organize their almost-national sport.

If these tools seem too complex or pricey for athletes, here is a list a 11 web-based event and meeting planners that organize complex social events for little or nothing. Yes, these tools really get a venue, print tickets, find security and get the proper permits in a just a few clicks. Anybody can do it.

If organizing is not a big deal, publicizing the event  would be even easier. Social media has made getting the word out as easy as sending a Tweet or posting a Facebook update. Chad Ochocinco, Reggie Bush and Troy Polamalu have a combined social reach of 6 million fans. If these three players show up to play in even a reasonably decent football game in a reasonably decent facility, and they play for real, is anybody suggesting that 75,000 fans won’t show up? Or that a network like Versus or Spike would not pay real money to televise that game?

The mind boggling part is that this sort of thing — call it the Not The NFL Social Bowl — would actually offer players something they won’t be getting from the owners anytime soon: a pay raise . Remember, the NFL median salary is around $500,000 per year. For 16 games, that is $31,000 or so per game. Assuming 75,000 fans at, say, the Super Dome, at $20 a ticket, that’s a $1.5 million gate. Figure another $2 million in TV rights, which is crazy low, but you get the point. There is probably $3 million left after expenses at the end of The Social Bowl. This purse  gets split among the players, assuming a light roster of 22 players a side, or 44 total players. That’s $66,000 each. Trust me, considering that most players will be making nothing if there’s a lockout, guys are going to be lined up waiting to get spots on those rosters.

Now,  can a series of Social Bowls survive long term and become a viable league? Of course not. There is not the history that entrenched teams have in each city. But as a one-time stunt that sends a clear message to owners that the players really do the hard work in football, it can work.

The fact is, technology has changed the calculus of how sports are played. As much as the owners hate the notion, it would fairly trivial for locked out NFL players to hold their own perfectly professional, perfectly profitable, perfectly powerful game.

In this dark and miserable age, when we’ve seen self-centered corruption and just plain incompetence from our business and political leaders, watching our football heroes play the national sport just for the principle of it would be something everyone would just have to see.

I know I would watch. Wouldn’t you?




CrowdWave Is The Latest Addition To The Time Out Circus

Posted by Jonathan in GENERAL, STADIUM on 02-01-11    No Comments


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crowdwaveIf you’ve been to a professional sporting event in this country you know that, for the fans, there’s no such thing as a time out. The ball is either in play or you’re looking at a nonstop of orgy of dance teams, kissing cams, fan promotions, dunking mascots and T-shirt cannons. Where you stand on this issue probably depends on how you feel about sitting through stuff like this, but let me add one more thing to the list: crowd-based video games.

They’re coming to a stadium or arena near you, if they haven’t already. CrowdWave, which makes mass-participation Jumbotron-based games, already has systems in 10 different NBA and NHL arenas, with plans to expand to the NFL and MLB later this year.

Basically, we’re looking at a giant version of Kinect. CrowdWave can sense whether the people in a section of the stadium are throwing their hands to the right, or left, or up in the air (like they just don’t care!), and depending on the game, the system acts accordingly.

Here’s what a few of the games at Madison Square Garden look like. Pretty simple, but it adds another layer to your typical Jumbotron fare. You have to wonder about the actual game becoming a sideshow to the sideshow with all this gimmickry, but with tickets prices being what they are, it’s understandable that the leagues want to make sure you feel like you got as much bang for your buck as possible. Winning teams are always going to drive ticket sales first and foremost, but hey, Quicken Loans Arena debuted some of these games this season — after LeBron James took his talents to South Beach — so if you’re a Cavaliers’ season ticket holder, you’re probably welcoming the distraction.




More Sports Robots: Smart Balls That Can Break Down Your Jump Shot And More

Posted by Jonathan in GENERAL on 01-29-11    No Comments


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hal“I’m sorry Dave, but you need to work on your release.”

Here’s the latest, greatest example of how advanced stats and analysis will change the way we play, teach and consume sports. InfoMotion Sports Technologies has a smart basketball — called the 94Fifty — which tracks and analyzes the ball handler’s performance.

One of these things can read how far the shooter is from the basket, the angle of his shot and more. The data is then transferred wirelessly to a computer program that can generate specific recommendations.

The implications for coaching are pretty obvious. This is another powerful tool that will accompany increasingly sophisticated video and motion analysis. A great coach can see a lot, but even Phil Jackson isn’t a human spreadsheet. Here’s a technology that has the potential to tell exactly why a player missed or made a shot. I don’t need to tell you that’s valuable information.

But more important to sports fans — especially hardcore stats geeks —  are the numbers that are going to come out of this, especially if these smart balls make their way into regulation games. This is a mother lode of  data waiting to be unleashed (imagine all the new ESPN stat graphics) with new ways to analyze the world’s greatest players, down to their most subtle tendencies.




Auto Racing Tries To Get Eco-Friendly

Posted by Jonathan in GENERAL on 01-27-11    No Comments


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gogreenappFile this one under counter-intuitive: green motor sports.

Drivers from the American Le Mans Series are appearing this year at a series of educational events called the Go Green Auto Rally to teach car owners about sustainable driving.

The thinking goes that sports car racers are actually more efficient drivers, using energy-saving techniques such as smooth acceleration and anticipatory braking to get the most out of their vehicles and an edge on their opponents.

I’ll accept the premise, but these guys are still driving around in circles, and they ain’t carpooling.

However, American Le Mans is doing some interesting things to promote environmentally conscious racing, if there can be such a thing while we’re still using fossil fuels. The series, which features a European style of endurance racing, debuted an actual hybrid racing car during an October event, and they also have an end-of-season award for the team producing the fewest emissions.

The Go Green Auto Rally, itself, is a competition. Participants measure their emissions against other drivers using the rally’s smartphone app, which, if you can’t make it to one of the several events around the country, is also available on iTunes.

Not exactly pulse-pounding stuff, unless you imagine our carbon footprint as the environmental equivalent of a driver crashing into a concrete retaining wall.

But that takes some mental gymnastics.

Regardless, the idea of somehow greening a sport that literally runs on gasoline is interesting. It actually wouldn’t be all that surprising to see more efforts like the one by American Le Mans in the way of eco-friendly racing, if only for show. NASCAR rolled out a hybrid pace car in 2009, but nobody would accuse them of environmentalism. Gas prices are creeping back up and it won’t look great to be burning barrels and barrels of oil if Americans end up shelling out $4 or more per gallon. Plus, these racing teams pay for gas too, and it isn’t cheap for them either.

So maybe it’s not such a wild idea after all.