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Friday Grab Bag: Big Kindle Sale, Kentucky Derby Point System

June 15, 2012 by 2 Comments

Looking for a sports watch that can track your every move but dislike the bland sameness that seems to pervade the industry? Well Nike has teamed with TomTom to break that boredom with a set of Nike+ Sports watches that come in day-glo colors so that you can match your jogging outfit.

The upgraded GPS watch, which runs around $149, will support NikeFuel and provide users with a wealth of information including position, speed, and the ever popular calories burned. It also can be programmed with reminders and motivational messages.

Apple to kill Ping in next OS release?
Apple has been hinting for some time that Ping, its attempt at social networking, was on a short leash and now it sounds as if it is at the end of its short product life as the company decides not to spend good money after bad.

All Things Digital reports that the technology will be absent in future operating system releases. Of course in hindsight that seems quite obvious considering all of the Facebook integration there will be in the next release.

ESPN loses Premier League broadcast rights
Sports Illustrated has reported that ESPN was shut out of the latest round of broadcast rights for the English Premier League. The winning bid of $4.49 billion was submitted by BSkyB and BT for the domestic TV rights in a 3-year deal. The previous deal, which was split between ESPN and BSkyB was for $1.95 billion.

ITC throws out Google patents in Apple/HTC dispute
The International Trade Commission delivered some bad news to Google when it threw out five of its patents that it had assigned to HTC. HTC needed the patents in its legal battles with Apple where it is trying to bar the import of select Apple products into Taiwan.

According to Foss Patents the court rejected an investigation into the assigned patents and said that it cannot sue Apple over violating patents that it does not own, and which it appears is just renting from Google for the trial. HTC said that it will appeal. Both Apple and HTC/Google have a series of patent lawsuits against each other ongoing around the globe.

HTC buys some patents
So if you can’t rent them, buy them. HTC has confirmed that it is buying once high flying graphics processor developer S3 Graphics, and that a driving reason behind the deal is to get its hands on the company’s patent portfolio.

While not the largest in the industry S3 does own approximately 270 patents, some of which are licensed to other third party developers. HTC is one of the major companies that has been fighting it out with Apple over patents used in mobile devices such as smartphones.

Kentucky Derby Follows NASCAR’s Lead
Ever wonder how a horse qualifies for the Kentucky Derby? Well wonder no more because the races organizers are taking steps to spell out how and why horses manage to gain entry to one of the premier racing events in the world.


Churchill Downs has developed what it calls the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” and will use a point system much like NASCAR’s that will assign points to horses that run select races, based on how they finish. The program will start this fall for the current crop of two year olds and will be used to determine next years crop of horses for the race.

Android growth still strong
Google’s Andy Rubin, who is the head of the smartphone operating system, said that the daily activation of devices running the Android operating system is now averaging 900,000 devices a day. Last year at the same time it was 500,000.

Asus confirms Google Tablet-off the record of course
Android Authority said that it sat down with an executive from Asus at the recent Computex show who confirmed that his company was building a Google-labeled tablet that will enter the 7-inch form factor fray.

Expected to be powered by Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor the device is expected to be priced in the $150-$250 range. Look for Google’s big Google I/O conference at the end of the month as the launching pad for the device.

Want to make your pillow a touchscreen? With MaKey MaKey you just might be able to
MaKey MaKey is the latest startup to catch my limited attention span has appeared at Kickstarter, a project that seeks to turn everyday items into functioning touchscreens with the ability to interact with the Internet.

Sound too good to be true, well it is not reality yet but there is a some interesting demos over at Kickstarter. It is simply a board, some alligator clips and an Internet connection via a PC and in no time you to could be using bananas as a keyboard.

Its funding effort, which ends today, has been a tremendous success. Seeking a $25,000 goal it went over the top and at the time of this post had already received pledges worth $533,313 with close to 11,000 backers. Nice bit of overkill.

Kindle scores big with State Department
While Apple gets most of the publicity due to its tremendous success with the iPad the Kindle just scored a major deal with the US State Department. According to a piece from The Atlantic Wire, the State Department will be purchasing thousands of Kindles.

The total value of the deal has been reported at $16.5 million and will call for the tablets to come with a teaching program. The initial buy for the project is 2,500 devices and they will be sent to libraries and other education around the world.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Asus, English Premier Soccer League, Google, iOS, Kickstarter, Kindle, NASCAR, Startup, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

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

June 11, 2012 by 2 Comments

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: , , ,

GolfGameBook Allows You to Brag in Real Time

May 31, 2012 by 1 Comment

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: , , ,

Wave of Tablets on the Horizon

May 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I guess a toy store selling tablets targeted at children is a natural progression of life, and come to think of it after seeing several of my friends’ iPads being hammered on by 7-year-olds, it is now starting to make a good deal more sense.

Welcome to the Kurio7, a 7-inch tablet from Techno Source that will be first seen at Toys”R”Us and then hopefully move into greater distribution at a later point. A key selling point will be the built-in parental controls.

The customizable controls will help prevent children from downloading apps or visiting sites that they should not, and will allow them to surf safe sites on the Internet, read e-books and do the host of other functions that tablets are known for.

The tablet has built-in Wi-Fi and can support eight different logins, each with a different profile, password and controls. It comes preloaded with content that is targeted at children including games, videos and educational material.

Next Generation Transformer almost here
The Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T, a 10-inch tablet that is the latest in this family is expected within the next few weeks as well. The TF700T lineup will come in two basic flavors, ones targeted at gamers and multimedia users and creators and those for communication and more traditional tablet functions.

The gaming version will feature a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 chip while for those looking for 3G/4G LTE connectivity it will be powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4. It will feature an 8-megapixel camera on the back with LED flash, and a 2 MP front facing camera.

Pricing has not been yet released but it will be interesting to see where the company seeks to position the device. Its earlier version of the Transformer had very disappointing sales.

Google’s Nexus stats appear on benchmarking site
The as yet only rumored Google Nexus Tablet has not yet been announced but t appears that the devices abilities have been listed at benchmarking site Rightware. While the fact that Google was developing a tablet has already been announced by the company so far the details have not been made public.

According to the information the tablet will have a 7-inch display, will run the Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) operating system and will be powered by a quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. The display will have a 768 x 1280 resolution and it appears to be manufactured by Asus.

This is very likely the tip of the iceberg — Apple has a rumored new iPad, there are rumblings of updated offerings from Amazon and then later this year the release of Windows 8 is expected to open the floodgates for a new batch of tablets.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Amazon, Android, Apple, Asus, Google, Kindle, Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, Tablets Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Facebook Phone, Dell Tablet Specs?

May 29, 2012 by 1 Comment

Toshiba has announced that it is getting out of the netbook market and will not be offering new ones, at least in the United States. This follows a trend that has been developing for some time as others have already discontinued their efforts, including Dell.

Toshiba said that it will instead be focusing on the ultrabook, an emerging class of notebooks that feature light, sleek form factors coupled with powerful processors, according to Liliputing. I suspect that the netbook category is going to be killed, at least in the US, by ultrabook from one direction and tablets in the other.

Dell Tablet specs leaked?
I am always a bit leery of publishing leaked information unless it was leaked to me personally but the piece over at Neowin looks pretty compelling. It appears that Dell is developing its forthcoming Windows 8 tablet around Intel’s Clover Trail dual core Atom processor and that the device will have a 10.1-inch HD display with 1366 x 768 resolution.

Other features include 2GB of memory and as much as 128 GB of SSD storage. An interesting feature looks to be a removable battery that allows users to choose between one that has a 6-8 hour life and a larger one that has 10-12 hour life.

Apple’s response to DOJ a good read
While I have not read the legal documents the people at Forbes have gone to the trouble and bring out some marvelous quotes from Apple’s filings and some interesting commentary about how they foresee the case progressing.

Not being a lawyer hinders any real objective opinion on my part but I think that the author of the piece, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, makes a pretty compelling argument on Apple’s side. Head over for his piece and a like to the Apple filing.

Crowdfunding site flaws?
I increasingly talk about crowd funding as it is an interesting method for small developers to get the initial funding needed to launch a product. However there is another side to the equation that is clearly brought out by Gizmodo — the failures.

It points out that companies that you see on its front page are ones that are getting funding, while ones that fail, or are on their way to failure, seem to completely disappear from the site, as it only wants to show winning or potential winning offerings.

Since, according to the article, Kickstarter gets a percentage of the amount pledged; this makes sense since only projects that get 100% of their request get anything. To see why some of them might have failed head over to Mashable for a short piece on crowd funding mistakes.

The Patent Wars continue

Microsoft wins round versus Motorola in Germany
Apparently Microsoft owns patents relating to how you splint one log text message into two smaller ones and Motorola has violated those patents. A German court ruled that Motorola’s technology to permit this feature infringes on Microsoft’s patents. It was reported that while Microsoft could ban Motorola products in the country it is instead seeking a license fee.

The two have been going at it tooth and nail for some time in the patent department with both sides scoring what appear to be major victories. I wonder of the license fee is the first step towards resolving their issues.

Apple tops in mobile PCs
The preliminary results are in for the NPD DisplaySearch’s Quarterly Mobile PC Shipments and Forecast Report is in and to the probably surprise of no one Apple is the top dog in this field. According to the report Apple shipped approximately 17.2 million mobile PCs in Q1’12.

This is a 118% increase over the same period from a year ago and of the total iPads represented 80% of Apple’s total, or 13.6 million units. For the industry as a whole the results were nowhere near as good with shipments growing 30% year to year, reaching 76.2 million for the quarter.

Cisco kills Tablet
In a move that surprised me because the product never appeared on my radar in the first place, Cisco is killing its Cius tablet. The networking giant had developed and introduced the tablet a year ago with the stated purpose of pioneering the business market with the product.

The tablet featured a 7-inch display and had a $750 list price. Sold via its channel partners it was obviously hurt by lower cost offerings from rivals that businesses increasingly allowed employees to bring in from home.

Facebook building smartphone?
The New York Times has reported that Facebook is once again dipping its toe into the smartphone market and has a project underway that should see a new product available in the market sometime next year.

According to the article Facebook has been actively hiring hardware and software engineers including a number that had worked on Apple’s iPhone. It had been reported a few years ago that Facebook had a development project for a phone but killed it.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Cisco, Dell, Facebook, Kickstarter, Mashable, Microsoft, Motorola, Smartphone, Startup, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , ,

Will Nvidia’s Kai lead to Less Expensive Tablets?

May 24, 2012 by 1 Comment

At its annual shareholder meeting Nvidia showed a prototype Android tablet platform that it has code named Kai and that it is positioning as the basis, with its processors, for lower cost family of tablets.

The heart of the Kai tablet would be Nvidia’s Tegra-3 processor that the company seeks to leverage as the heart of a new line of Tablets that will have powerful processing and graphics capabilities but will rival Amazon’s Kindle in price rather than butt heads with Apple’s iPad at the high end.

Nvidia already has a head start in the tablet and smartphone space going forward as along with Microsoft it has been actively seeding hardware vendors with laptops that feature the chip in an effort to create an active ecosystem of apps prior to the release of Windows 8 later this year.

This appears to be taking that a step further. Its executives talked about how the processor, along with an ARM-based chip, could enable a generation of less expensive Android tablets and that its years of experience in this space of developing for Windows will serve it in good stead.

Of course so does rival Intel which is seeking to establish its Atom processor as at least part of any Windows Tablet ecosystem and while it can work with Nvidia it is also seeking to supplant ARM as the heart of these systems so how closely Nvidia is integrated with the various ARM chips out there could be an issue.

We at MSR support anything that will help grow the tablet market, and not because we secretly own stock in the companies involved. Currently I use my phone as a secondary screen quite often when watching sports, particularly football. When the price point drops enough I think I might have several, one just dedicated to sitting next to my remote control, unless I use it as a remote control as well.

I can see not only the second screen market but also as portable screens when visiting friends (in some cases) following outdoor sports and a variety of other uses. Since a household is likely to have more than one person it would make sense to have one dedicated for use in the TV room and another for a any other use that might occur.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, iPad, Kindle, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , ,
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