Startup seeks to turn iPhone into Sports Video Recording Device

I am slowly becoming addicted to Kickstarter, the funding platform that basically enables anybody to invest in small start up companies that need small infusions of cash to get going. We have already covered one such project here.

While looking for something else I found a project that incorporate iPhones for (mostly) sports purposes. The simple device is called the ProtoSports Holster for iPhone from a start up named ProtoSports. The idea is pretty simple; it has developed a case that holds an iPhone 4 or 4S for use in creating feedback videos

The case can be attached to a thin alignment sticks in either landscape or portrait mode and enables a user to have it operate as a hands free, standalone video camera that record their actions, such as a golf swing or time in a batting cage. The plastic holster and the alignment sticks could easily fit into a golf bag.

I have no idea how well this would work, or how hard it would be for your average DIY handyman to develop something similar in their shop but I like the fact that a garage inventor can throw an idea out there and get funding from people if they like the project.

Of course not all ideas that get presented at Kickstarter are well thought out. There is a funny, and kind of sad, piece on some of the failed efforts on that site presented by Buzz Feed. There is a whole lot of fail going on!

Tiger Woods Answers Fans’ Questions on Web Video

We wish this was embeddable, but it’s easy enough to go over to the Tiger Woods website and check out the web video of Eldrick the king answering fan questions. While the one-man, one-camera production is a little spare I actually found myself liking this a lot more than some of the over-produced, SportsCenter-type music-ated highlight type films.

What’s interesting about this video segment is that it gives you almost 15 minutes of up close and personal with Woods, who is notorious for being wooden, stiff and cliche-predictable at press conferences or on those “you just got off the course” video interviews. In this one Tiger seems as normal as any mega-millionaire can be, revealing why he likes the British Open trophy better than the others, and what’s in those little bottles that he drinks on the course. (If you listen closely at one point you can hear Tiger’s or someone’s phone buzzing in the background. Love the low production values! Good enough works!)

What’s interesting to me is how this effort is being reacted to by the professional golf press. Here’s one take from Stephanie Wei, editor of the great Wei under Par blog and a writer who covers the tour for Sports Illustrated and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

Wei’s pretty savage takedown of Tiger for skipping the formal press conference in favor of a one-sided Q&A is a pretty standard reaction I have seen this year from traditional media. It’s pretty clear that the professional press doesn’t like (and has never liked) the way Woods goes “over their heads” and talks directly to the world via his own electronic media channels. I think you can draw a pretty straight line between this issue and the way many media people savor kicking Woods when he fails on the course — the post-Masters rip jobs are but the latest example.

On one hand, I get the outrage. Media people are trying to do a job and serve their readers, and when the best and most interesting player in the sport you are covering makes your job a hassle, it’s understandable that you might be ticked off. But to rip a guy for taking media into his own hands is, I think, a bit backwards. If Tiger isn’t happy with how he gets treated by the media, he has every right to become his own broadcaster. I think it’s something we’ll see more of in the future, not less. I also think “professional” media types would do well to shelve their outrage and figure out ways to make their own reporting and analysis more attractive to their readers. Because if it comes down to fans having to choose to follow Tiger directly or via a proxy, I don’t think professional media types are going to like the answer.

Here’s the link again.

UPDATE: Here’s another take, which I think unneccessarily rips the production value. And finds fault with Tiger reading the questions off paper. Like what, he’s supposed to use a teleprompter? I don’t think fans care about this stuff as much as the “pro media” does.

UPDATE 2: Yet another “professional media” take ripping Woods, from a media person who claims that the media is supposed to be “the conduit” between player and fans. What law was passed that makes that statement true? It might have been the way things happened historically, but there’s a lot of things that have changed over time. Being the approved “conduit” is not something I think the media can or should take for granted.

UPDATE 3: Stephanie Wei, to her credit, not only watched the whole video several times (I have watched it once) but also transcribed some of the answers. She also seems to have reversed field a little bit from her original take, no longer seeing this as a “middle finger to the media” but as something geniune, done for fans. I think it’s pretty funny that media folks are ripping Tiger for the video’s supposedly poor quality. It’s not like there’s a lot of better stuff from the media I see covering golf 24/7.

Watching Golf This Week: Bubba’s Back in NOLA

Has the feel-good aura of winning the green jacket already worn off? Or was Bubba Watson always something of a crank, and now we’re just noticing because everyone is paying attention? The simmering story this week on the PGA Tour is that Bubba Watson is back playing in a somewhat minor event, which is surprising because tour stops like the Zurich Classic of New Orleans are the types the big dogs usually skip. And now Bubba is a big dog, courtesy of his Masters win. But Bubba is a man who is loyal, and he won here last year so he considers it his obligation to show up.

The only problem is, he’s letting everyone know that. And if you read between the lines from his testy press conference earlier in the week you get the feeling that the feel-good everyman Bubba may not stay that way for long. Cue the prima donna music! Let’s see how cheery the new dad is if he starts hitting them into the swamp. And if Bubba fails us, maybe John Daly can provide some excitement. Anyway — no online golf AGAIN this week, so you are stuck with broadcast TV, radio or shot tracker. (At least there’s the bonus Golf Channel coverage on the weekend) But you probably won’t care until Saturday anyway since you will be watching the NFL Draft.

But if you want golf…
Here’s where to follow the action:

ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Thursday, April 26 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, April 27 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 28 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, April 29 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite)
12 p.m. — 6 p.m., Thursday-Sunday

ONLINE
The PGA’s Live@ broadcasts don’t return until the Players in early May. So you will have to get by online with…

PGA SHOT TRACKER
Get your online fix via Shot Tracker for the ZCoNO.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW

Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend

LOCAL FLAVOR
Is there any place in the U.S. more flavorful than New Orleans? Wish we were there this weekend — not only is there golf, there’s the New Orleans Jazz Festival. For golf, Doug Tatum at the New Orleans Times-Picayune is the guy to follow

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
Not much flavor or history to the TPC Louisiana. Looks swampy.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Bubba. (Has he become a one-word player yet? Like Tiger or Phil?)

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Hunter Mahan, 1,378 points
2. Bubba Watson, 1322
3. Phil Mickelson, 1,136
4. Carl Pettersson, 1,111
5. Johnson Wagner, 1,056

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Rory McIlroy; 2. Luke Donald; 3. Lee Westwood; 4. Bubba Watson; 5. Hunter Mahan.
See the official World Golf Ranking list.

British Open OKs Mobile Device Use at Royal Lytham

Bloody good, we say! According to this post at the PGA’s site the R&A will allow mobile device use at this year’s British Open, aka the Open Championship. According to the PGA post the decision was made “to improve the spectacle and tap into a younger market.”

There’s no need for us to quote the full post but we do like the money quote:

“There is no denying the attachment people feel to their mobile phones both in terms of gathering information and staying in touch with family and friends,” said R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson.

Indeed. The British Open takes place July 19-22, at the Royal Lytham & St Annes course. If you’re going, check your international data rate plan first.

Friday Grab Bag: The Olympics are 98 Days Away!

Next week in pro football news, the ever popular draft is coming. One interesting thing about the NFL regular season schedule being released this week is that Las Vegas already has lines on the games! Not sure if it is time yet to lay a dime on Green Bay giving the points however.

Intel delivers high capacity solid state drives for consumers
Intel has delivered the Solid-State Drive 330 Series, a lineup that is directly targeted at the consumer market. Now being a consumer you might wonder why you would want one of these drives and the answer is easy. They have the capacity to store your growing digital music/video/images collection that might not fit on your smartphone or tablet, or even computer.

The drives will be available in the 60GB, 120GB and 180GB capacities and is a SATA 6Gb/s-based SSD. The difference between a SSD and what is probably in your computer is that a traditional hard disk drive has rotating material and so is much more prone to damage from dropping or other accidents. A SSD is what is in your smartphone, or at least the underlying technology is.

Exercise cycle delivers feedback wirelessly
Ever ridden an exercise bike and found that the data that it provided was worthless, or like at my gym, the data technology always seems to be broken? Well a company called Body Bike wants to fix all that with a wireless solution that can provide feedback using Ant + wireless technology developed by Ant Wireless.

The Body Bike Connect uses the wireless technology to send a wide range of information including VO2 max, calories, distance, and average, percentage and maximum values to an Ant enabled console. It also can be used to handle personalized settings.

Foursquare tops 20 million users
Now I have to admit I am not a Foursquare user. I don’t care that you are buying a cup of coffee or getting your haircut. Why do you think that is interesting to anybody but stalkers and home thieves? Well enough of the rant, as I see that the location-based check-in service startup has 20 million users, up from 15 million in December.

Google’s Motorola plans driving partners to rivals?
There is growing speculation that part of Google’s plans for its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility is to emulate what Apple is currently doing, becoming a vertically integrated developer. What that means is that it would develop the hardware, the operating system and possibly even the chip, for future Android devices. Currently it helps partners design products that are sold as Nexus systems.

This would make it very tough for partners to compete with Google’s own products, and could be a major impetus for them to look for alternatives. While Apple’s iOS is out two alternatives remain that already have at least a bit of mainstream acceptance.

The two are Research in Motion, which reportedly is in talks to license its technology to Samsung. The second and possibly more viable alternative is Microsoft. Its Windows 8 is due soon and it has Intel helping to promote the technology.

Apple and Samsung to settle?
Among the many patent battles being fought across the globe, two of the bigger participants are Apple and Samsung with over 20 cases between the two pending, and now it looks the top bosses will be talking face to face about how to settle the issues.

The two companies have agreed to settlement talks that will be presided over by a San Francisco-based magistrate judge. At the meeting are expected to be Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung, as well as the general counsel for both companies.

BBC will stream all Olympic games
The BBC is taking an aggressive broadcasting stance for the upcoming Summer Olympics. With the games in its own backyard the broadcasting giant said that it will be broadcasting up to 24 streams of live HD sports to cable and satellite broadcasters for television viewing.

This will enable viewers to watch every Olympic sport, if they were so inclined. The move is an expansion of its previous plan that had called for all of the games to only be broadcast online. In addition it will be broadcasting on BBC One and BBC 3 as well as radio coverage.

This move, coupled with NBC Sports promising to put a huge amount of the games online mean that viewers can now see events that they wish to rather than simply the ones that the broadcasters have determined that viewers want.

No Greek Warship for Olympics?
A Greek trireme powered by 170 rowers has been scratched from the opening ceremonies of the upcoming London Olympics- the reason is that they are afraid that it will be too popular, causing I guess people to actually want to come to the opening ceremony.

That is really too bad because it not every day you see a replica of the Olympias, an ancient warship that was used in one of history’s most important battles sailing by. I hope they are not planning on canceling the basketball portion of the Olympics because I hear that is very popular as well.

Watching Golf This Week: Texas Time on the Tour

Did you know that this is the 90th version of the Valero Texas Open? Does that history mean anything to you? Probably not. It may mean a lot to the fine folks in San Antonio who are hosting this week’s PGA Tour stop, but for golf fans this is one of those in-between weeks, where the big names take some time off. No Tiger, no Phil, no Rory, no Bubba… maybe Rich Beem will resurface and be the big story this week. Or maybe Matt Kuchar, the top 10 man, will get himself a long-overdue winner’s check.

Here’s where to follow the action:

VALERO TEXAS OPEN

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Thursday, April 19 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, April 20 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 21 — CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, April 12 — CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite)
12 p.m. — 6 p.m., Thursday-Sunday

ONLINE
The PGA’s Live@ broadcasts don’t return until the Players in early May. So you will have to get by online with…

PGA SHOT TRACKER
Get your online fix via Shot Tracker for the Valero Open.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW

Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend

LOCAL FLAVOR
This is kind of fun — the First Tee program has some local youth bloggers writing about the Valero Open. Give them a read. And the San Antonio Express-News has a special Texas Open site.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
The Express-News has a good hole by hole feature on the TPC San Antonio course.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Brendan Steele.

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Hunter Mahan, 1,378 points
2. Bubba Watson, 1322
3. Phil Mickelson, 1,136
4. Carl Pettersson, 1,111
5. Johnson Wagner, 1,056

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Rory McIlroy; 2. Luke Donald; 3. Lee Westwood; 4. Bubba Watson; 5. Hunter Mahan.
See the official World Golf Ranking list.