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Friday Grab Bag: Atlantic 10 Inks Broadcast Deals — Microsoft Surface/Windows 8 Date Unveiled

October 5, 2012 by

The Atlantic 10 Conference has just closed a pair of broadcast deals that will enable it to maintain a strong presence on broadcast television. The 9-year deal with NBC Sports calls for the network to nationally televise men’s and women’s basketball games on the NBC Sports Network, as well as select local games on NBC Sports Regional Networks. Included will be the ability to live stream games on NBCSports.com for mobile users starting next year.

ESPN has also reached a new agreement with the conference, one that will extend the existing agreement to broadcast the conference’s men’s and women’s basketball games, including each conference championship. The agreement will begin with the 2013-14 season and conclude in 2021-22 and will continue to include extensive action on ESPNU.

ESPN’s Atlantic 10 programming will be available across the network’s multiple properties including ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, WatchESPN, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic and ESPN.com.

Google/Motorola drops a patent claim against Apple
Motorola Mobility has withdrawn a patent infringement claim against Apple that it had filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission two months ago according to a report in Bloomberg. However it has said that it does reserve the right to refile and that the withdrawal is not due to any agreement between the two companies.

Tablet Global Market sales expected to top $40B this year
Market research firm Global Information has estimated that the worldwide revenue for tablets this year will reach $40.4 billion and that due to a forecast growth rate of 29% year over year it will reach $181.5 billion by 2018.

Tablets have been in the news a great deal lately, with a bevy of new devices hitting the shelves soon from Amazon and Barnes & Noble while the Windows 8 and Apple iPad launches are in the near future. With all of this news it is probably no surprise how well they have been selling.

Samsung wins a small victory over Apple in U.S.
Samsung has convinced the trial judge that heard the case with Apple in the United States to lift the ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. The tablet was one of many devices that Apple sought to have banned after it prevailed in its copyright and patent win in US District Court earlier this year.

Major League Baseball reaches 8-year TV deals with Fox and Turner
Earlier this week Major League Baseball announced an 8-year national media rights agreements with FOX and TBS, which coupled with the deal signed with ESPN earlier will make the teams’ owners very happy. The three contracts will deliver $12.4 billion over their life.

The new deals with Fox and Turner will start in 2014 and allows Fox to keep the All Star game as well as the World Series while the League Championship Series and Division Series will be shared across FOX Sports Media Group (FSMG), TBS and MLB Network. A plus for mobile fans is that the deals include a digital “TV Everywhere” rights to stream televised games and other MLB-related programming online and through mobile devices.

Microsoft confirms Oct. 25 for Windows 8 launch
So mark your calendar and prepare your ‘Is this the iPad killer’ story as Microsoft and its allies will be taking center stage in New York City to show you everything from Intel’s Clover Trail microprocessor to Microsoft’s Surface Tablet.

Intel has said that there are over 20 designs in works with its processor for the platform and showed a few last week, with Hewlett-Packard taking the wraps off of its offering earlier this week. Expect more details by the time of the event from other OEMs.

Microsoft to open pop-up stores next to Apple Stores
If imitation is the highest form of flattery Apple should be pleased with Microsoft. It was reported in Computerworld that Microsoft will start opening ‘pop-up’ stores at malls starting Oct. 26. Interestingly that is the day after it introduces Windows 8.

What makes it interesting is that all of these 32 temporary stores, which will be selling the Surface tablets, 29 are in sites that already have an Apple store. I guess customers will be able to get a good comparison that way.

Filed Under: All Star Game, Android, Apple, Baseball, ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN3, Fox Sports, Intel, iOS, iPad, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, NBC Sports, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Surface, Turner Sports, WatchESPN, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

BuddyTV Preps for MLB playoffs — Lets You Know When Games are On

October 3, 2012 by

BuddyTV MLB Quicklist

BuddyTV, an app that enables sports fans to quickly find out what games are available via local broadcast and cable carriers is launching a feature that will enable fans of Major League Baseball to track the playoff games that are slated to begin later this week.

The MLB Quicklist will be part of the company’s current app, BuddyTV Guide, and will provide the broadcast information of the games, listing them in either chronological order or if a user wants they can get specific team information. If all of the playoff series went their full set there would be 43 games played during the current post season.

The program allows users to set alerts to remind them of game times and the app has a number of filtering features that enable users to select just a single topic such as sports, comedies or reality tv shows.

The overall app is easy to use. It indexes all the major cable and pay TV providers’ schedules as well as major Internet Video providers and then presents that in a user defined format for them to peruse. Users can set up watchlists, and also filer out types of programming that they are not interested in. It also connects with Facebook and has the ability to integrate iTunes, NetFlix and Amazon programming as well as allow you to blacklist programs and channels. The program is free for iOS devices and is available at Apple’s iTunes App Store. So far the company has had approximately 400,000 downloads since the app was introduced.

There are a growing number of apps for tracking TV programming with ones available such as TV Guide Mobile and TV-Listings USA and TV Show tracker so the more customization an app can provide for a user the more appealing it will make itself.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, Facebook, iOS 6, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile

Wednesday Wi-Fi Whispers: Cal’s Memorial Stadium Gets Multi-Beamed

October 3, 2012 by

It’s not necessarily Wi-Fi but when it comes to bringing more wireless capacity to stadiums who are we to quibble? While at an event at the AT&T Foundry in Palo Alto last week where Ma Bell was showing off a bunch of innovative wireless stuff we saw in the flesh (well in the silicon and plastic, I guess) some of the new multi-beam antennas AT&T developed earlier this year.

Turns out those suckers are pretty big. See this picture with the helpful person standing next to it for perspective.

An AT&T multibeam cellular antenna. Shown next to real-life person. Credit: MSR.

In case you didn’t read through our earlier story the multi-beam antennas are great for stadium situations because they shoot their signals out on a very narrow beam, allowing for greater density in capacity. Basically what that means is with a multibeam antenna operators can direct the signals better, instead of just broadcasting out in a circle and hoping for the best. These whiteboard drawings below might help you understand how this all works.

We missed the presentation but I think you can figure out what this means.

Not as clear but the idea is, multibeam antennas serve a slice of the crowd.

If you are attending any football games at the University of California’s refurbished Memorial Stadium in Berkeley this fall you might be able to spot a few of these bad boys, since AT&T has installed them there to improve cell coverage, according to an AT&T rep we met at the event.

Best Wi-Fi at AT&T Park? Try Section 336

With his team having clinched the National League West, it made sense that San Francisco Giants CIO Bill Schlough was in a good mood at the AT&T event last week (where he was telling folks all about the wireless wonderland inside the stadium walls). We got a chance to ask Bill where the best reception was in the park, and he gave a surprising answer — Section 336, way up in the upper deck at the corner of the left-field line.


According to Schlough that part of the park is absolutely blanketed with Wi-Fi antennas because it is the area where the team puts overflow media members during the playoffs. To make sure the sportswriters have a great signal the team saturates the section, making it also a good place for fans with tablets and smartphones.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Baseball, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report Friday Grab Bag: 3D at MLB Playoffs — New Galaxy Note Coming

September 28, 2012 by

Is Google adding ads to Maps?
WebProNews is reporting that Google appears to be preparing to monetize its Maps app. The company has applied for a patent for Online Map Advertising. It looks as if this will allow the company to insert ads directly into the maps that you are viewing.

However on the plus side it looks like it might just be targeted at third party sites that use the maps as part of an effort to show people where their place of business is and they might include an ad in the space.

Also Google has said that contrary to rumors it has not submitted a new maps app to Apple for approval in its App Store. However the company is not ruling out doing so in the future.

Did the Lingerie Football League help settle NFL Ref strike?
Seattle fans are pointing to the team’s last second, replacement referee assisted, win over Green Bay as the straw that broke the camel’s back and forced the NFL to settle with the regular referees, who will be manning the field this weekend.

However a funny piece in Deadspin about the officials from the Lingerie Football League notes that it has a tougher standard for its referees that the NFL did for its replacements. The logic behind this was that apparently the LFL fired some refs for incompetence and they ended up doing NFL games as replacements. True or not it is pretty funny.

Are HTC and Nokia the next patent litigants’?
DigiTimes is reporting that Nokia and HTC may be about to meet each other in a court over potential patent issues. The problem appears to be that the Windows Phone 8 that each company has released bears a great deal of similarity to the one its rival introduced.

The article states that Nokia has already lodged a complaint with HTC over the belief that HTC has copied the design of Nokia’s Lumina 820 for HTC’s Windows Phone 8x offering.


Toys “R” Us sued over tablet
The battle for tablet supremacy has apparently spilled over into the toy aisle as Fuhu is suing Toys “R” Us for coping Fuhu’s Nabi tablet and using the technology in the recently released Tabeo. The suit claims that the two companies also had a deal signed in October 2011 under which Toys “R” Us had agreed to distribute the Nabi and to promote the product.

Fuhu is claiming that the product was not adequately advertised or promoted and that Toys “R” Us deliberately tanked the product in favor of its own Mateo that was then under development.

MySpace trying for resurgence
An interesting piece in Gizmag reports that MySpace, once the power in social media but a backwater since the emergence of Facebook a few years back, is currently undergoing a major redesign and I seeking to reestablish itself.

The site will have a much more visual look from the previews shown and it will have a new interface, in part influenced by the emergence of tablets. One interesting feature will be your ability to import all of your Facebook contacts.

Samsung’s next generation Galaxy Note out next month?
There is going to be a major Samsung event in New York on Oct. 24th, according to a press release that Samsung Mobile has sent out to the press. While the company has been mum on what it will be unveiling at the event, the rumor mill seems to think that it knows.

The answer is the next generation Samsung Galaxy Note, the Galaxy Note 2. The hybrid smartphone tablet has already been unveiled in South Korea and has been expected to be released in the States soon.

TBS to add 3D imagery to baseball playoffs
TBS has said that it will be adding “3D hologram imagery’ to its playoff broadcasts this fall. It will use the technology to illustrate different pitch grips and to show how the pitch will work. It will also be used to show pressure points, release points and ball rotation.

I guess using real live pitchers to show the same thing would be too complicated. While I think that this could be interesting I also am afraid that it will cause the station to miss a number of live pitches. The channel will also be tripling the number of super slo motion cameras that it uses compared to a regular season game.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, Facebook, Google, HTC, iOS 6, Lawsuit, Major League Baseball, NFL, Nokia, TBS, The Big Lead Tagged With: , , , , , ,

MLB Sets One-Day ‘Beat the Streak’ Contest With $5.6 Million Prize

September 27, 2012 by

Fantasy baseball game alert — Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media department is staging a one-day contest on Friday, Sept. 28, with a potential $5.6 million prize for the person who can correctly pick 57 major league baseball players who will get a hit in a game on Friday. If you go 57-for-57, MLBAM will award you $5.6 million. Sign up here.

Why is this contest being staged? Mainly because nobody has been able to win the big “Beat the Streak” prize in the contest’s 12 years of existence. As the MLBAM said in a press release:

We tried to give millions of dollars away. We have really tried. Again. However, it is with a sense of anguish that today we announce for the 12th consecutive season no fan will achieve fantasy baseball immortality by surpassing the legendary consecutive games hitting streak record of 56 and claiming a $5.6 million grand prize in the process. Maybe it is harder than originally envisioned when we debuted Beat The Streak in 2001 with a $10,000 grand prize.

Filed Under: Baseball, Betting, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Sports, Major League Baseball Tagged With: , , , ,

World Baseball Classic sets International Venues

September 26, 2012 by

Inbox Cash Blueprint

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As the Major League Baseball season starts to head toward the playoffs, another sort of baseball playoff schedule is starting to emerge as the World Baseball Classic has finished its first round of qualifiers and has set its international sites.

While little of the action will be this year, it is obvious that competitive baseball will be starting earlier than usual next season. That is not to discount the last two qualifiers still to be played this year to fill the last two spots open for teams.

Two World Baseball Classic teams advance
Canada and Spain advanced to the tournament with wins in their qualifier series last week, and did so in very different fashion. Canada crushed the home team Germans 11-1 in a laugher to advance to the WBC next year. Meanwhile down in Florida Spain edged out Israel 9-7 in a five hour marathon that saw the game winner scored in the 10th inning. Next round of qualifiers is next month.

The next two sets of qualifiers are slated for play in November. One will take place in Panama City, Panama and will feature Brazil, Columbia, Nicaragua and Panama while the other will take place in Taipei, Taiwan and will include Taipei, New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand.


First Round (Pool Play)
Pool A (Fukuoka, Japan): Japan, China, Cuba, Qualifier Winner. March 2-6
Pool B (Taichung, Taiwan): Korea, Netherlands, Australia, Qualifier Winner March 2-6
Pool C (San Juan): Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Qualifier Winner. March 7-10
Pool D (Phoenix): USA, Mexico, Italy, Qualifier Winnerr. March 7-10.

Second Round (Modified Double Elimination):
Pool A (Tokyo): Guessing this will be the winners of Pool A and B, March 7-10
Pool B (Miami): Guessing this will be the winners of Pool C and D, March 12-16

Semi-Finals and Finals: AT&T Park, San Francisco, March 17-19

Filed Under: Baseball, Major League Baseball, World Baseball Classic Tagged With: ,
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